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M E M O 1 11 



ON SLAVERY, 



READ BEFORE THE 



SOCIETY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP LEARNING, 



OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 



AT ITS ANNfJAL MEETING AT COLUAIBIA. 



1837. 



BY CHANCELLOR HARPER. 



CHARLESTON: 

PUBLISHED BY JAMES S. BURGErJ. 



1838, 






E. C. COUNCELL'S PlllNT. 



ERRATA. 

Page 6, 23d line from bottom for " equality" read inequulUy. 

Page 6, 20th line from bottom, for "make" read mark. 

Page 6, 9th " " for " would" read could. 

Page 16, 16th " from top, for " labour" read labourer. 

Page 17, 12th " from top, for " animate" read alleviate. 

Page 26, 5th " from bottom, for " our" read one. 

Page 43, 11th " from top, for " rich" read zoeak. 

Page 45, 20th " from bottom, for " there" read then. 

Page 49, 16th " from bottom, for " severe" read more. 

Page 49, 14th " from bottom, for "necessary" read unnecessary. 

Page 49, 17th " from top, for " horrid flame" read lurid flame. 

Page 53, 20th " from top, for " Meotic Sea," read Sea of Moeris 

Page 58, 26th " from bottom, for " prevalent" read pi-urient. 

Page 59, 15th " from bottom, for " undoing" read undergoing. 

Page 60, 22d " from bottom, for "fierce" read pure. 

Page 60, 22d " from bottom, for •' defeated" read defecated. 

Page 61, 5th " from bottom, for "uproot" read uproar. 



MEMOIR. 



The institution of domestic slavery exists over far the greater por- 
tion of the inhabited earth. Until within a very few centuries, it may 
be said to have existed over the whole earth — at least in all those por- 
tions of it which had made any advances towards civilization. We 
might safely conclude then that it is deeply founded in the nature of 
man and the exigencies of human society. Yet, in the few countries 
in which it has been abolished — claiming, perhaps justly, to be far- 
thest advanced in civilization and intelligence, but which have had the 
smallest opportunity of observing its true character and eflects — it is 
denounced as the most intolerable of social and political evils. Its 
existence, and every hour of its continuance, is regarded as the crime 
of the communities in which it is found. Even by those in the coun- 
tries alluded to, who regard it with the most indulgence or the least ab- 
liorrence — who attribute no criminality to the present generation — who 
found it in existence, and have not yet been able to devise the means 
of abolishing it, it is pronounced a misfortune and a curse injurious 
and dangerous always, and which must be finally fatal to the socie- 
ties which admit it. This is no longer regarded as a subject of ar- 
gument and investigation. The opinions referred to are assumed as 
settled, or the truth of them as self-evident. If any voice is raised 
among ourselves to extenuate or to vindicate, it is unheard. The 
judgment is made up. We can have no hearing before the tribunal 
of the civilized world. 

Yet, on this very account, it is more important that we, the inhab- 
itants of the slave holding States of America, insulated as we are, by 
this institution, and cut off, in some degree, from the communion and 
sympathies of tiie world by which we are surrounded, oi' with which 
we have intercourse, and exposed continually to their animadversions 
and attacks, should thoroughly vmderstand this subject and our 
strength and weakness in relation to it. If it be thus criminal, dan- 
gerous and fatal ; and if it be possible to devise means of freeing our- 
selves from it, we ought at once to set about the employing of those 
means. It would be the most wretched and imbecile fatuity, to shut 
our eyes to the impending dangers and horrors, and " drive darkling 



down tlie current of our fate," till we are overwhelmed in the final 
destruction. If we are tyrants, cruel, unjust, oppressive, let us hum- 
ble ourselves and repent in the siglit of Heaven, that the foul stain 
may be cleansed, and we enabled to stand erect as having common 
claims to humanity with our fellow men. 

But if we are nothing of all this ; if we commit no injustice or 
cruelty ; if the maintenance of our institutions be essential to our 
prosperity, our character, our safety, and the safety of all that is dear 
to us, let us enlighten our minds and fortify our hearts to defend them. 

It is a somewhat singular evidence of the indisposition of the rest o 
the world to hear any thing more on this subject, that perhaps the most 
profound, original and truly philosophical treatise, which has appeared 
within the time of my recollection.* seems not to have attracted the 
slightest attention out of the limits of the slave holding States them- 
selves. If truth, reason and conclusive argument, propounded with 
admirable temper and perfect candour, might be supposed to have an 
effect on the minds of men, we should think this work would have 
put an end to agitation on the subject. The author has rendered in- 
appreciable service to the South in enlightening them on the subject 
of their own institutions, and turning back thatinonstrous tide of follv 
and m^-idness which, if it had rolled on, would have involved his own 
great Stale along with the rest of the slave holding States in a com- 
mon ruin. But beyond these, he seems to have produced no effect 
whatever. The denouncers of Slavery, with whose productions the 
press groans, seem to be unaware of his existence — unaware tliat 
there is reason to be encountered, or argument to be answered. They 
assume that the truth is known and settled, and only requires to be 
enforced by denunciation. 

Another vindicator of the South has appeared in an individual who 
is among those that have done honour to American literature. t With 
conckisive argument, and great force of expression he has defended 
Slavery from the charge of injustice or immorahty, and shewn clearly 
the unspeakable cruelty and mischief which must result from any 
scheme of abolition. He does not live among slave holders, and it 
cannot be said of him as of others, that his mind is warped by inter- 
est, or his moral sense blunted by habit and familiarity with abuse. 
These circumstances, it might be supposed, would have secured hnn 
hearing and consideration. He seems to be equally unheeded, and 
the work of denunciation disdaining argument, still goes on. 

President Dew has shewn that the institution of Slavery is a prin- 
cipal cause of civilization. Perhaps nothing can be more evident 
than that it is the sole cause. If any thing can be ])redicated as uni- 
versally true of uncultivated man, it is that he will not Jabour be- 
yond what is absolutely necessary to maintain his existence. I^abour 
is pain to those who are unaccustomed to it, and the nature of man 

"President Dew's Review of tlie Virginia Dcliatos on tlie subject of Slavery. 
tPaulding on Slavery. 



5 

is averse to p;iin. Even with all the training', tlie lielps and motives 
of civilization, we faid that this aversion cannot be overcome in many 
individnals of the most cultivated societies. The coercion of Slavery 
alouo is adequate to form man to habits of labour. Without it, there 
can be no accumulation of property, no providence for the future, 
no taste for comforts or elegancies, which are the characteristics and 
essentials of civilization. He who has obtained the command of ano- 
ther's labour, first begins to accumulate and provide for the future, and 
the foundations of civilization are laid. We find confirmed by 
experience that which is so evident in theory. Since the existence of 
man upon the earth, with no exception whatever, either of ancient or 
modern times, every society which has attained civilization, has ad- 
vanced to it through this process. 

Will those who regard Slaveiy as immoral, or crime in itself, tell us 
that man was not intended for civilization, but to roam the earth as a 
biped brute ] That he was not to raise his eyes to Heaven, or be 
conformed in his nobler faculties to the image of his Maker 1 Or will 
they say that the Judge of all the earth has done wrong in ordaining 
the means by which alone that end can be attained ? It is true 
that the Creator can make the wickedness as well as the wrath of 
man to praise him, and bring forth tlie most benevolent results from 
the most atrocious actions. But in such cases, it is the motive of the 
actor alone which condemns the action. The act itself is good, if it 
promotes the good purposes of God, and would he approved by him, 
if that result only were intended. Do they not blaspheme the provi- 
dence of God who denounce as wickedness and outrage, that which 
is rendered indispensable to his pur))oses in the government of the 
world 1 Or at what stage of the progress of society will they say that 
Slavery ceases to be necessary, and its very existeiice becomes sin and 
crime t I am aware that such argument would have little clicct on 
those with whom it would be degrading to contend — who j>ervert 
the inspired writings — which in some parts expressly sanction Slavery, 
and throughout indicate most clearly that it is a civil institution, with 
which religion has no concern — with a shallowness and presumption 
not less flagrant and shameless than his, who would justify murder 
from the text, " and Phineas arose and executed judgment." 

There seems to be something in this subject, which blunts the per- 
ceptions, and darkens and confuses the understandings and moral 
feelings of men. Tell them th.at, of necessity, in every civilized 
society, there must be an infinite variety of conditions and employ- 
ments, from the most eminentiand intellectual, to the most servile and 
laborious ; that the negro race, from their temperament and capacity, 
are peculiarly suited to the situation which tliey occupy, and not less 
happy in it than any corresponding clas-s to be found in the worl.d ; prove 
incontestably that no scheme of emancipation could be carried into 
efiect without the most intolerable mischiefs and calamities to both 
master and slave, or without probably throwing a large and fertile 
portion of the earth's surface out of the pale of civilization — and you 
have done nothing-. They reply, that whatever may be the consequence, 



you are bound to do riglU ; that man has a right to himself, and ma» 
cannot have a property in man ; that if the negro race be naturally 
inferior in mind and character, they are not less entitled to the rights of 
humanity ; that if they are happy in their condition, it affords but the 
stronger evidence of their degradation, and renders them still more 
objects of commiseration. They repeat, as the fundamental maxim 
of our civil policy, that all men are born free and equal, and quote 
from our Declaration of Independence, "that men are endowed by 
their Cieator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 

It is not the first time that I have had occasion to obseiTe that men 
may repeat with the utmost confidence, some maxim or sentimental 
phrase, as self-evident or admitted truth, which is either palpably false 
or to which, upon examination, it will be found that they attach no 
definite idea. Notwithstanding our respect for the important document 
which declared our independence, yet if any thing be found in it, and 
especially in'what may be regarded rather as its ornament than its 
substance — false, sophistical or unmeaning, that respect should not 
screen it from the freest examination. 

All men are born free and equal. Is it not palpably nearer the truth 
to say that no man was ever born free, and that no two men were ever 
born equal 1 Man is bom in a state of the most helpless dependence 
on others. He continues subject to the absolute control of others, and 
remains without many of the civil, and all of the political privileges 
of his society, until the period which the laws have fixed, as that at 
which he is supposed to attain the maturity of his faculties. Then 
equality is further developed, and becomes infinite in every society, 
and under whatever form of government. Wealth and poverty, fame 
or obscurity, strength or weakness, knowledge or ignorance, ease or 
labor, power or subjection, make the endless diversity in the condition 
of men. 

But we have not arrived at the profundity of the maxim. This 
inequahty is iu a great measure the result of abuses in the institutions 
of society. They do not speak of what exists, but of what ought to 
exist. Every one should be left at liberty to obtain all the advantages 
of society which he can compass, by the free exertion of his faculties, 
unimpeded by civil restraints. It may be said that this would not 
remedy the evils of society which are complained of The inequali- 
ties to which I have referred, with the misery resulting from them, 
would exist in fact under the freest and most popular form of govern- 
ment that man would devise. But what is the foundation of the bold 
dogma so confidently announced ] Females are human and rational 
beings. They may be found of better faculties and better qualified to 
exercise political privileges and to attain the distinctions of society 
than many men; yet who complains of the order of society by which 
they are excluded from them 1 For I do not speak of the few who 
would desecrate them ; do violence to the nature which their Creator 
has impressed upon them ; drag them from the position which they 
necessarily occuj)y for the existence of civilized society, and in which 



they constitute its blessing and ornament — the only position which 
they have ever occupied in any human society — to place them in a 
situation in which they woidd be alike miserable and degraded. Lo\^ 
as we descend in combatting the theories of presumptuous dogmatists, 
it cannot be necessary to stoop to this. A youth of eighteen may 
have powers which cast into the shade those of any of his more 
advanced cotemporaries. He may be capable of serving or saving 
his country, and if not permitted to do so now, the occasion may 
have been lost forever. But he can exercise no political privilege or 
aspire to any political distinction. It is said that of necessity, society 
inust exclude from some civil and political privileges those who are 
unfitted to exercise them, by infirmity, unsuitableness of character, or 
defect of discretion ; that of necessity there must be some general rule on 
the subject, and that any rule which can be devised will operate with 
hardship and injustice on individuals. This is all that can be said and 
all that need be said. It is saying, in other words, that the privileges 
in question are no matter of natural right, but to be settled by conven- 
tion, as the good and safety of society may require. If society should 
disfranchise individuals convicted of infamous crimes, would this be 
an invasion of natural right 1 Yet this Avould not be justified on the 
score of their moral guilt, but that the good of society required, or 
would be promoted by it. We admit the existence of a moral law, 
binding on societies as on individuals. Society must act in good 
faith. No man or body of men has a right to inflict pain or pri- 
vation on others, unless with a view, after full and impartial delibera- 
tion, to prevent a greater evil. If this deliberation be had, and the 
decision made in good faith, there can be no imputation of moral guilt. 
Has any politician contended that the very existence of governments 
in which there are orders privileged by law, constitutes a violation of 
morality ; that their continuance is a crime, which men are bound to 
put an end to without any consideration of the good or evil to result 
from the change 1 Yet this is the natural inference from the dogma 
of the natural equality of men as applied to our institution of slavery — 
an equality not to be invaded without injustice and wrong, and requir- 
ing to be restored instantly, unqualifiedly, and without reference to 
consequences. 

This is sufficiently common-place, but we are sometimes driven to 
common-place. It is no less a false and shallow than a presumptu- 
ous philosophy, which theorizes on the affairs of men as of a problem to 
be solved by some unerring rule of human reason, without reference 
to the designs of a superior intelligence, so far as he has been pleased 
to indicate them, in their creation and destiny. Man is born to sub- 
jection. Not only during infancy is he dependant and under the 
control of others ; at all ages, it is the very bias of his nature, that 
the strong and tlie wise should control the weak and the ignorant. 
So it has been since the days of Ninu-od. The existence of some 
form of Slavery in all ages and countries, is proof enough of this. 
He is born to subjection as he is born in sin and ignorance. To 
make any considerable progress in knowledge, the continued eft'orts 



of successive generaLi(in.<, and tUc diliyeiit training and imvvearied 
exertions of the individual arc requisite. To make progress in moral 
virtue, not less time and ctVort, aided by superior help, are necessary ; 
and it is only by the matured exercise of his knowledge and his vir- 
tue, that he can attaiu to civil freedom. Of all things, the existence 
of civil liberty is most the result of artificial institution. The procli- 
vity of the natural man is to domineer or to be subservient. A noble 
result indeed, but in the attaining of which, as in the instances of 
knowledge and virtue, the Creator, for his own purposes, has set a 
limit beyond which he we cannot go. 

But he who is most advanced in knowledge, is most sensible of his 
own ignorance, and how much must forever be unknown to man in 
his present condition. As I have heard it expressed, the further you 
extend the circle of light, the wider is the horizon of darkness. He 
who has made the greatest progress in moral purity, is most sensible 
of the depravity, not only of the world around him, but of his own 
heart and the imperfection of his best motives, and this he knows 
that men must feel and lament so long as they continue men. So 
when the greatest progress in civil liberty has been made, the enlight- 
ened lover of liberty will know that there must remain much inequal- 
ity, much injustice, much Slavery, which no human wisdom or virtue 
will ever be able wholly to prevent or redress. As I have before had 
the honor to say to this Society, the condition of our whole existence 
is but to struggle with evils — to compare them — to choose between 
them, and so far as we can, to mitigate them. To say that there is 
evil iu any institution, is only to say that it is human. 

And can we doubt but that this long discipline and laborious pro- 
cess, by which men are required to Avork out the elevation and im- 
provement of their individual nature and their social condition, is 
imposed for a great and benevolent end ? Our faculties arc not ade- 
quate to the solution of the mystery, why it should be so ; but the 
truth is clear, that the world was not intended for the seat of univer- 
sal knowledge or goodness or happiness or freedom. 

Man has hceii endowed by his CreatOKwith certain inalienahle rights, 
among tvhich are life, liberty and tlie pursuit of hapjiiness. What is 
meant by the inalienahle right of liberty % Has any one who has 
used the words ever asked himself this question % Does it mean 
that a man has no right to alienate his own liberty — to sell himself 
and his posterity for slaves ? This would seem to be the more obvious 
meaning. When the word right is used, it has reference to some law 
which sanctions it, and would be violated by its invasion. It must 
refer either to the general law of morality or the law of the country — 
the law of God or the law of man. If the law of any country per- 
mitted it, it would of course be absurd to say that the law of that 
country was violated by such alienation. If it have any meaning in 
this respect, it must mean that though the law of the country permit- 
led it, the man would be guilty of an immoral act who should thus 
alienate his liberty. A lit question for schoolmen to discuss, and the 
consequences resulting from ils decision as important as from t\\\y of 



theirs. Yet who will say that the mtn pressed by famine and in 
pz'ospect of death, would be criminal for such an act 1 Self-preser- 
vation as is tridy said, is the first law of nature. High and peculiar 
characters, by elaborate cultivation, may be taught to i)refer death to 
Slavery, but it would be folly to prescribe this as a duty to the mass of 
mankind. 

If any rational meaning can be attributed to the sentence I have 
quoted, it is this : — That the society, or the individuals who exercise 
the powers of government, are guilty of a violation of the law of God 
or of morality, when by any law or public act, they deprive men of 
life or liberty, or restrain them in the pursuit of happiness. Yet every 
government does, and of necessity must, deprive men of life and lib- 
erty for offences against society. Restrain them in the pursuit of hap- 
piness ! Why all the la^vs of society are intended for nothing else 
but to restrain men from the pursuit of happiness, according to their 
own ideas of happiness or advantage — which the phrase must mean 
if it means any thing. And by what right does society punish by the 
loss of hfe or liberty ? Not on account of the moral guilt of the crim- 
inal — not liy impiously and arrogantly assuming the i)rerogative of 
the Almighty, to dispense justice or suftering, according to moral 
desert. It is for iis own protection — it is the right of self-defence. If 
there existed the blackest moral turpitude, which by its example or 
consequences, could be of no evil to society, government would have 
nothing to do Avitli that. If an action, the most harmless in its moral 
character, could be dangerous to the security of society, society would 
have the perfect right to punish it. If the possession of a black skin 
would be otherwise dangerous to society, society has the same right to 
protect itself by disfranchising the possessor of civil privileges, and 
to continue the disability to his posterity, if the same danger would 
be incurred by its removal. Society inflicts these forfeitures for the 
security of the lives of its members ; it inflicts them for the security of 
their property, the great essential of civilization ; it inflicts them also 
for the protection of its political institutions; the forcible attempt to 
overturn which, has always been justly regarded as the greatest crime; 
and who has questioned its right so to inflict 1 " Man cannot have 
property in man" — a ])hrase as full of meaning as, " who slays fat 
oxen should himself be fat." Certainly he may, if tlie laws of society 
allow it, and if it be on sulficient grounds, neither he nor society do 
wrong. 

And is it by this — as we must call it, however recommended to our 
higher feelings by its associations — well-sounding, but unmeaning ver- 
biage of natural equality and inalienable riglits, that our lives are to 
be put in jeopardy, our property destroyed, and our political institu- 
tions overturned or endangered ? If a people had on its borders a tribe 
of barbarians, whom no treaties or faith could bind, and by whose 
attacks they were constantly endangered, against whom they could 
devise no security, but that they should be exterminated or enslaved ; 
would they not have tlu; right to enslave them, and keep them in slavery 
so long as the same danger would be incurred by their manumission '? 
2 



10 

If a civilized man and a savage were by chance placed together on a 
desolate island, and the former, by the superior power of civilization, 
would reduce the latter to subjection, would he not have the same 
right 1 Woidd this not be the strictest self-defence ] I do not now 
consider, how far we can make out a similar case to justify our ensla- 
ving of the negroes. I speak to those who contend for inalienable 
rights, and that the existence of slavery always, and under all circum- 
stances, involves injustice and crime. 

As I have said, we acknowledge the existence of a moral law. It 
is not necessary for us to resort to the theoiy which resolves all right 
into f o rce. The existence of such a law is imprinted on the hearts of 
all human beings. But though its existence be acknowledged, the 
mind of man lias hitherto been tasked in vain to discover an unerring 
standard of morality. It is a common and undoubted maxim of mo- 
rality, that you shall not do evil that good may come. You shall not 
do injustice or commit an invasion of the rights of others, for the sake 
of a greater ulterior good. But what is injustice, and what are the 
rights of others ] And why are we not to commit the one or invade 
the others 1 It is because it inflicts pain or suffering, present or pros- 
pective, or cuts them ofl" from enjoyment which they might other- 
wise attain. The Creator has sufficiently revealed to us that happi- 
ness is the great end of existence, the sole object of all animated 
and sentient beings. To this he has directed their aspirations and 
efforts, and we feel that we thwart his benevolent purposes when we 
destroy or impede that happiness. This is the only natural right of 
man. All other rights result from the conventions of society, and 
these, to be sure, we are not to invade, Avhatever good may appear to 
us likely to follow. Yet are we in no instance to inflict pain or suffer- 
ing, or disturb enjoyment for the sake of producing a greater good % 
Is the madman not to be restrained who would bring destruction on 
himself or others % Is pain not to be inflicted on the child, when it is 
the only means by which he can be eflectually instructed to provide for 
his own future Imppiness % Is the surgeon guilty of wrong who am- 
putates a limb to preserve life ] Is it not the object of all penal legis- 
lation, to inflict suffering for the sake of greater good to be secured to 
society % 

By what right is it that man exercises dominion over the beasts of 
the field; subdues them to painful labour, or deprives them of life 
for his sustenance or enjoyment? They are not rational beings. 
No, but they are the creatures of God, sentient beings, capable of 
suffering and enjoyment, and entitled to enjoy according to the mea- 
sure of their capacities. Does not the voice of nature inform every 
one, that he is guilty of wrong when he inflicts on them pain without 
necessity or object % If their existence be limited to the present life, 
it affords the stronger argimient for affording them the brief enjoy- 
ment of which it is capable, ll is because the greater good is effected; 
not only to man but to the inferior animals themselves. The care of 
man gives the boon of existence to myriads who would never other- 
wise have enjoyed it, and the enjoyment of their existence is better 



11 

provided for while it lasts. It belongs to the being of superior facul- 
ties to judge of the relations wliich shall subsist between himself 
and inferior animals, and the use he shall make of them ; and he may 
justly consider himself, who has the greater capacity of enjoyment, 
in the fii'st instance. Yet he must do this conscientiously, and no 
doubt, moral guilt has been incurred by the infliction of pain on these 
animals, with no adequate benefit to be expected. I do no dispa- 
ragement to the dignity of human nature, even in its humblest form, 
when I say that on the very same foundation, with the diflerence only 
of circumstance and degree, rests tlie right of the civilized and culti- 
vated man, over the savage and ignorant. It is the order of nature 
and of Goil, that the being of superior faculties and knowledge, and 
therefore of superior power, should control and dispose of those who 
are inferior. It is as much in the order of nature, that men should 
enslave each other, as that other animals should prey upon each other. 
I admit that he does this under the highest moral responsibility, 
and is most guilty if he wantonly inflicts misery or privation on 
beings more capable of enjoyment or sufiering than brutes, with- 
out necessity or any view to the greater good which is to result. 
If we conceive of society existing without government, and that 
one man by his superior strength, courage or wisdom, could ob- 
tain the mastery of his fellows, he would have a perfect right to do so. 
He would be morally responsible for the use of his power, and guilty 
if he failed to direct them so as to promote their happiness as well 
as his own. Moralists have denounced the injustice and cruelty which 
have been practiced towards our aboriginal Indians, by which they 
liave been driven from their native seats and exterminated, and no 
doubt with much justice. No doubt, much fraud and injustice has been 
practised in the circumstances and the manner of their removal. Yet 
who has contended that civilized man had no moral right to possess 
himself of the country 1 That he was bound to leave this wide and 
fertile continent, which is capable of sustaining uncounted myriads of 
a civilized race, to a few roving and ignorant barbarians 1 Yet if any 
thing is certain, it is certain that there were no means by which he 
could possess the country, without exterminating or enslaving them. 
Savage and civilized man cannot live together, and the savage can 
only be tamed by being enslaved or by having slaves. By enslaving 
alone could he have preserved tliem.* And who shall take upon liim- 
self to decide that the more benevolent course and more pleasing to 
God, was pursued towards them, or that it would not have been better 
that they had been enslaved generally, as they were in particular 
instances "? It is a refined philosophy, and utterly false in its applica- 
tion to general nature, or the mass of human kind, which teaches that 
existence is not the greatest of all boons, and worthy of being pre- 
served even under the most adverse circumstances. The strongest 
instinct of all animated beings sufficiently proclaims this. When the 
last red man shall have vanished from our forests, the sole remaining 

* I refer to President Dew on this subject. 



12 

traces of ]iis blood will be found among our enslaved population* 
The African slave trade has given, and will give the boon of existence 
to millions and millions in our country, who would otherwise never 
have enjoyed it, and the enjoyment of their existence is better provided 
for while it lasts. Or if, for th.e rights of man over inferior animals, 
we arc referred to revelation, which pronounces — " ye shall have do- 
minion over the beasts of the held, and over the fowls of the air," we 
refer to the same which declares not the less explicitly — 

" Both tlie bondmen and bondmaids which thou shalt have, shall 
be of the Jieathenthat are among you. Of them shall you buy bond- 
men and bondmaids." 

" Moreover of the children of strangers that do sojourn among you, 
of them shall ye buy, and of their tamilies that are with you, which 
they begot in your land, and they shall be your possession. And ye 
shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit 
them by possession. They shall be your bondmen forever." 

In moral investigations, ami^iguity is often occasioned by confound- 
ing the intrinsic nature of an action, as determined by its consequence, 
with the motives of the actor, involving moral guilt or innocence. 
If poison be given with a view to destroy another, and it cures him of 
disease, the poisoner is guilty, but the act is beneficent in its results. 
If medicine be given with a view to heal, and it happens to kill, he 
who administered it is innocent, but the act is a noxious one. If they 
who begun and prosecuted the slave trade, practised horrible cruelties 
and inflicted much suffering — as no doubt they did, though these have 
been much exaggerated — for merely selfish purposes, and with no view 
to future good, they were morally most guilty. So far as unnecessary 
cruelty was practised, the motive and tlie act were alike bad. But 
if we could be sure that the entire cfiectof the trade has been to pro- 
duce more happiness than Avould otherwise have existed, we must 
pronounce it good, and that it has happened in the 'ordering of God's 
providence, to Avhom evil cannot be imputed. Moral guilt has not 
been imputed to Las Casas, and if the importation of African slaves 
into America, had the effect of preventing more suffering than it in- 
flicted, it was good, both in the motive and the result. I freely admit 
that, it is hardly possible to justify morally, those who begun and car- 
ried on the slave trade. No speculation of future good to be brought 
about could compensate the enormous amount of evil it occasioned. 
If we should refer to the common moral sense of mankind, as de- 
termined by their conduct in all ages and countries, for a standard of 
morality, it would seem to be in favor of Slavery. The will of God, 
as determined by utility, would be an infallible standard, if we had 
an unerring measure of utihty. The Utilitarian Philosophy, as it is 
commonly understood, referring oidy to the animal wants and en- 
]>loyments, and physical condition of man, is utterly false and degra- 
ding. If a sufficiently extended definition be given to utility, so as to 

* It is not uiicommon, especially in Charleston, to see slaves, after many descents 
and having mingled tlieir blood with the Africans, possessing Indian liair and features. 



13 

include every thing that may be a source of enjoyment or suffering, it 
is for the most part useless. How can you compare the pleasures 
resulting from the exercise of the understanrling, the taste and the 
imagination, Avith the animal enjoynionts of the senses — the gratifica- 
tion derived from a line poem with that from a rich lianquet < How 
are we to weigh the pains and enjoyments of one man highly cultiva- 
ted and of great sensibility, against those of many men of blunter ca- 
pacity for enjoyment or sufl'ering 1 And if we could determine with 
certainty in what utility consists, we are so short sighted with respect 
to consequences — the remote results of our best considered actions, 
are so often wide of our anticipations, or contrary to them, that we 
should still be very much in the dark. But though we cannot arrive 
at absolute certainty with respect to the utility of actions, it is always 
fairly matter of argument. Though an imperfect standard, it is the 
best we have, and perhaps the Creator did not intend that we should 
arrive at perfect certainty with regard to the morality of many actions. 
If after the most careful examination of consequences that we are 
able to make, with due distrust of ourselves, we impartially, and in 
good faith, decide for that whicli appears likely to produce the great- 
est good, we are free fiom moral guilt. And I would impress most 
earnestly, that with our imperfect and limited faculties, and short 
sighted as we are to the future, we can rarely, very rarely indeed, be 
justified in producing considerable present evil or suffering, in the ex- 
pectation of remote future good — if indeed this can ever be justified. 

In considering this subject, I shall not regard it in the first instance 
in reference to the present position of the Slave-Holding States, or the 
difficulties which lie in the way of their emancipating their Slaves, but 
as a naked, abstract question — whether it is better that the institution 
of praedial and domestic Slavery should, or should uot exist in civi- 
lized society. And though some of my remarks may seem to have 
such a tendency, let me not be understood as taking upon myself to 
determine that it is better that it should exist. God forbid that the 
responsibility of deciding such a question should ever be thrown on 
me or my countrymen. But this I m ill say, and not without confi- 
dence, that it is in the power of no human intellect to establish the 
contrary proposition — that it is better it should not exist. This is 
probably known but to one being, and concealed from human sagacity. 

There have existed in various ages, and we now see existing in the 
world, people in every stage of civilization, from the most barbarous 
to the most refined. Man, as I have said, is not born to civilization. 
He is born rude and ignorant. But it will be, I suppose, admitted 
that it is the design of his Creator that he should attain to civilization : 
That religion should be known, that the comforts and elegancies of 
life should be enjoyed, that letters and arts should be cultivated, in 
short, that there should be the greatest possible developement of mo- 
ral and intellectual excellence. It can hardly be necessary to say 
any thing of those who ha\e extolled the superior virtues and enjoy- 
ments of savage life — a life of physical wants and sufferings, of con- 
tinual insecurity, of furious passions and depraved vices. Those who 



14 

have praised savage life, are those who have known nothing of it, or 
who have become savages themselves. But as I have said, so far as 
reason or universal experience instruct us, the institution of Slavery is 
an essential process in emerging from savage life. It must then pro- 
duce good, and promote the designs of the Creator. 

I add further, that Slavery anticipates the henejits of civilization, and, 
retards the evils of CIV iUzation. The former part of this proposition 
has been so fully established by a writer of great power of thought — 
though I fear his practical conclusions will be found of little vahic — 
that it is hardly necessary to urge it.* Property — the accumulation 
of capital, as it is commonly called, is the first element of civUization. 
But to accumulate, or to use capital to any considerable extent, the 
combination of labor is necessary. In early si ages of society, when 
people are thinly scattered over an extensive teriitory, the labor neces- 
sary to extensive works, cannot be commanded. Men are indepen- 
dent of each other. Having the command of abundance of land, 
no one will submit to be employed in the service of his neighbor. No 
one, therefore, can employ more capital than he can use with his own 
hands, or those of his family, nor have an income much beyond the 
necessaries of life. There can, therefore, be little leisure for intellec- 
tual pursuits, or means of acquiring the comforts or elegancies of life. 
It is hardly necessary to say however, that if a man has the command 
of slaves, he may combine labor, and use capital to any required ex- 
tent, and therefore accumulate wealth. He shows that no colonies 
have been successfully planted without some sort of Slavery. So we 
find the fact to be. It is only in the Slave-Holding States of our con- 
federacy, that wealth can be acquired by agriculture — which is the 
general employment of our whole country. Among us, we know that 
there is no one, however humble his beginning, Avho with persevering 
industry, intelligence, and orderly and virtuous habits, may not attain 
to considerable opulence. So far as wealth has been accumulated in 
the States which do not possess Slaves, it has been in cities by the pur- 
suits of commerce, or lately, by manufactures. But the products of Slave 
labor furnish more than two-tbirds of the materials of our foreign com- 
merce, which the industry of those States is employed in transporting 
and exchanging ; and among the Slave-Holding States is to be found 
the great market for all the productions of their industry, of whatever 
kind. The prosperity of those States, therefore, and the civilization 
of their cities, have been for the most part created by the existence of 
Slavery. Even in the cities, but for a class of population, which our 
institutions have marked as servile, it would be scarcely possible to 
preserve the ordinary habitudes of civilized life, by commanding the 
necessary menial and domestic service. 

Every stage of human society, from the most barbarous to the most 
refined, has its oAvn peculiar evils to mark it as the condition of mor- 

*Tlie author of " Eugland and America" Wc do,' iTowcver, most indignantly 
repudiate his conclusion, that we are bound to submit to a tariff of protection, as 
an expedient for retaining our Slaves "the force of the whole Union, being required 
to preserve Slavery, to keep down the Slaves." 



15 

tality ; and perhaps there is none but omnipotence who can say in 
which the scale of good or evil most preponderates. We need say 
nothing of the evils of savage life. There is a state of society eleva- 
ted somewhat above it, which is to be found in some of the more thinly 
peopled portions of our own country — the rudest agriculttiral state — 
Avhich is thus characterized by the author to whom 1 have referred. 
" The American of tiie backwoods has often been described to the 
English as grossly ignorant, dirty, unsocial, delighting in rum and to- 
bacco, attached to nothing but his rifle, adventurous, restless, more 
than half savage. Deprived of social enjoyments or excitements, he 
has recourse to those of savage life, and becomes (for in this respect 
the Americans degenerate) unfit for society." This is no very inviting 
picture, which though exaggerated, we know not to be without like- 
ness. The evils of such a State, I suppose, will hardly be thought 
compensated by unbounded freedom, perfect equality, and ample 
means of subsistence. 

But let us take another stage in the progress — which to many will 
appear to ofter all that is desirable in existence, and realize another 
Utopia. Let us suppose a state of society in which all shall have 
})roperty, and there shall be no great inequality of property — in which 
society shall be so much condensed as to aftbrd the means of social in- 
tercourse, w itliout being crowded, so as to create difficulty in obtaining 
the means of subsistence — in which every family that chooses may 
have as much land as will employ its own hands, while others may 
employ their industry in forming such products as it may be desirable 
to exchange with them. Schools are generally established, and the 
rudiments of education universally diftused. Religion is taught, and 
every village has its church, neat thou«h humble, lifting its spire to 
Heaven. Here is a situation apparently the most favorable to happi- 
ness. I say apparently, for the greatest source of human misery is not 
in external circumstances, but in men themselves — in their depraved 
inclinations, their wayward passions and pei-verse wills. Here is room 
for all the petty competition, the envy, hatred, malice and dissimula- 
tion, that torture the heart in what may be supposed the most sophisti- 
cated states of society ; and though less marked and offensive, there 
may be much of the licentiousness. 

But apart from this, in such a condition of society, if there is little 
suffering, there is little high enjoyment. The even flow of life forbids 
the high excitement which is necessary for it. If there is little vice, 
there is little place for the eminent virtues, which employ themselves in 
controlling the disorders and remedying the evils of society, which 
like war and revolution, call forth the highest powers of man, whether 
for good or for evil. If there is little misery, there is little room for 
benevolence. Useful public institutions we may suppose to be crea- 
ted, but not such as are merely ornamental. Elegant arts can be little 
cultivated, for there are no means to reward the artists nor the higher 
literature, for no one will have leisure or means to cultivate it for its 
own sake. Those who acquire what may be called liberal education, 
will do so in order to employ it as the means of their own subsistence 



16 

or advancement in a profession, and literature itself will partake of 
the sordidness of trade. In short, it is plain that in such a state of 
societj, the moral and intellectual faculties cannot be cultivated to 
their highest perfection. 

But whether that which I have described be the most desirable state 
of society or no, it is certain that it cannot continue. Mutation and 
progress is the condition of human atfairs. Though retarded for a 
time by extraneous or accidental circumstances, the wheel must roll on. 
The tendency of population is to become crowded, increasing the dif- 
ficulty of obtaining subsistence. There will be some without any 
property except the capacity for labor. This they must sell to those 
who have the means of employing them, thereby swelling the amount 
of their capital, and increasing inequality. The process still goes on. 
The number of laborers increases until there is a difficulty in obtain- 
ing employment. Then competition is established. The remunera- 
tio.i of the labor becomes gradually less and less ; a larger and larger 
proportion of the product of his labor goes to swell the fortune of the 
capitalist ; inequality becomes still greater and more invidious, until 
the process encls in the establishment of such a state of things, as the 
same author describes as now existing in England. After a most im- 
posing picture of her greatness and resources; of her superabounding 
capital, and all-pervading industry and enterprize ; of her public in- 
stitutions for purposes of art, learning and benevolence ; her public 
improvements, by which intercourse is facilitated, and the convenience 
of man subserved ; the conveniences and luxuries of life enjoyed 
by those who are in possession of fortune, or have profitable employ- 
ments; of all, in short, that places her at the head of modern civili- 
zation, he proceeds to give the reverse of the picture. And here I 
shall use his own words. "The laboring class compose the bulk of 
the people; the great body of the people; the vast majority of the 
people — these are the terms by v/hich English writers and speakers 
usually describe those whose only property is their labor." 

" Of comprehensive words, the two most frequently used in Englisfi 
politics, are distress and pauperism. After these, of expressions ap- 
plied to the state of the poor, the most common ai-e vice and misery, 
wretchedness, sufferings, ignorance, degradation, discontent, depravity, 
drunkenness, and the increase of crime; with many more of the like 
nature." 

He goes on to give the details of this inequality and wretchedness, 
in terms calculated to sicken and appal one to whom the picture is 
new. That he has painted strongly we may suppose; but there is 
ample corroborating testimony, if such were needed, that the repre- 
.sentation is substantially just. Where so much misery exists, there 
must of course be mucli discontent, and many have been disposed to 
trace the sources of the former in vicious legislation, or the structure of 
government ; and the author gives the various schemes, sometimes 
contradictory, sometimes ludicrous, which projectors have devised as 
a remedy for all this evil to which flesh is heir. That ill judged legis- 
lation may have sometimes aggravated the general suffering, or that 



17 

its extremity may be mitigated by the well directed eftbrts of the wise 
and virtuous, there can be no doubt. One purpose for whicii it has 
been permitted to exist is, that it may call forth such efforts, and awa- 
ken powers and virtues wliich would otherwise have slumbered for 
want of object. But remedy there is none, unless it be to abandon 
their civilization. This inequality, this vice, this misery, this Slavery, 
is the price of England's civilization. They suifer the lot of humanity. 
But perhaps we may be permitted humbly to hope, that great, intense 
and widely spread as this misery undoubtedly is in reality, it may yet 
be less so than in appearance. Wc can estimate but very, very im- 
perfectly the good and evil of individual condition, as of ditlerent 
states of society. Some unexpected solace arises to animate the seve- 
rest calamity. Wonderful is the power of custom, in making the 
hardest condition tolerable ; the most generally wretched life, has cir- 
cumstances of mitigation, and moments of vivid enjoyment, of which 
the more seemingly happy can scarcely conceive; though the lives of 
individuals bg shortened, the aggregate of existence is increased ; even 
the various forms of death accelerated by want, familiarized to the 
contemplation, like death to the soldier on the field of battle, may 
become scarcely more formidable, than what we are accustomed to 
regard as nature's ordinary outlets of existence. If we could per- 
fectly analyze the enjoyments and sutferings of the most happy, and 
the most miserable man, we should perhaps be startled to find the 
difference so much less than our previous impressions had led us to 
conceive. But it is not for us to assume the province of omniscience. 
The particular theory of the author quoted, seems to be founded on 
an assumption of this sort — that there is a certain stage in the pro- 
gress, when there is a certain balance between the demand for labor, 
and the supply of it, which is more desirable tiian any other — when 
the territory is so thickly peopled that all cannot own land and culti- 
vate the soil for themselves, but a portion will be compelled to sell their 
labor to others; still leaving, however, the wages of labor hifih, and 
the laborer independent. It is plain, however, that this would in like 
manner partake of the good and the evil of other states of society. 
There would be less of equality and less rudeness, than in the early 
stages ; less civilization, and less suftering, than in the latter. 

It is the competition for employment, which is the source of this 
misery of society, that gives rise to all excellence in art and 
knowledge. When the demand for labor exceeds the supply, the 
services of the most ordinarily qualified laborer will be eagerly 
retained. When the supply begins to exceed, and competition 
is established, higher and higher qualifications will be required, until 
at length when it becomes very intense, none but the most consum- 
mately skilful can be sure to be employed. Nothing but necessity 
can drive men to the exertions which are necessary so to qualify them- 
selves. But it is not in arts, merely mechanical alone, that this supe- 
rior excellence will be required. It will be extended to every intellectual 
employment; and though this may not be the eftect in the instance of 
3 



18 

every individual, yet it will fix the liabits and character of the society, 
and prescribe every where, and in every department, the highest pos- 
sible standard of attainnieiit. 

But how is it that the existence of Slavery as with us, will retard the 
evils of civilization 'i Very obviously. It is the intense competition 
of civilized life, that gives rise to the excessive clieapness of labor, and 
the excessive cheapness of labor is the cause of the evils in question. 
Slave labor can never be so cheap as what is called free labor. Politi- 
cal economists have established as the natural standard of wages in a 
fully peopled country, the value of the laborer's subsistence. J shall 
not stop Jo inquire into the precise truth of this proposition. It cer- 
tainly approximates the truth. Whei-e competition is intense, men 
will labor for a bare subsistence, and less than a competent sub- 
sistence. The employer of free laborers obtains their services 
during the time of their health and vigor, without the charge 
of rearing them from infancy, or supporting them in sickness 
or old age. This charge is imposed on the employer of Slave 
labor, who, therefore, pays higher wages, and cuts off the principal 
source of misery — the wants and sutferiags of infancy, sickness, and 
old age. Laborers too will be less skilful, and perform less work — 
enhancing the price of that sort of labor. The poor laws of England 
are an attempt — but an awkward and empirical attempt — to supply 
the place of that which we should suppose the feelings of every human 
heart would declare to be a natural obligation — that he who has re- 
ceived the benefit of the laborer's services during his health and vigor, 
should maintain him when lie becomes unable to provide for his own 
suppoxt. They answer their purpose, however, very imperfectly, and 
are unjustly, and unequally imposed. There is no attempt to appor- 
tion the burden according to the benefit received — and perhaps there 
oould be none. This is one of the evils of their condition. 

In periods of commercial revulsion and distress, like the present, 
the distress, in countries of free labor, falls principally on the laborers. 
In those of Slave labor, it falls almost exclusively on the employer. 
In the former, when a business becomes unprofitable, the employer 
dismisses his laborers or lowers their wages. But with us, it is the 
very period at which we are least able to dismiss our laborers ; and if 
we would not suifer a further loss, we cannot reduce their wages. To 
receive the benefit of the services of which they are capable, we must 
provide for maintaining their health and vigor. In point of fact, we 
know that this is accounted among the necessary expenses of manaffn- 
ment. If the income of every planter of the Southern States, m. e 
permanently reduced one half, or even much more than that, it wo id 
not take one jot from the support and comforts of the Slaves. And 
this can never be materially altered, until they shall become so unpr j- 
fitable that Slavery must be of necessity abandoned. It is probable 
that the accumulation of individual wealth will never be carried to 
([uite so great an extent in a Slave-Holding country, as in one of free 
labor ; but a consequence will be, that there will be less inequality and 
less sufi'eruig. 



19 

Servitude is the condition of civilization. It was decreed, when the 
command was given, " be fruitful, and multiply and replemsh the 
earth, and subdue it," and when it was added, " in the sweat of thy 
face shalt thou eat bread." And what luiman being shall arrogate to 
himself tlic authority to pronounce tliat our form of it is worse m itself, 
or more displeasing to God than tliat wliich exists elsewhere ] Shall 
it be said that the servitude of other coimtries grows out of the exi- 
gency of their circurastances,'and therefore society is not responsible 
for it ? But if we know that in the progress of things it is to come, 
would it not seem the part of wisdom and foresight, to make provision 
for it, and thereby, if we can, mitigate the severity of its evils '? But the 
fact is not so. Let any one who doubts, read the book to which I 
hiive several times referred, and he may be satisfied that it was forced 
upon us by the extremest exigency of circumstances, in a struggle for 
very existence. Without it, it is doubtful whether a white man would 
be now existing on this continent— certain, that if there were, they 
would be in a state of the utmost destitution, weakness and misery. 
It was forced on us by necessity, and further fastened upon us, by the 
superior authority of the mother country. I, for one, neitlier deprecate 
nor resent the gift. Nor did we institute Slavery. The Atricans 
brought to us had been, speaking in the general, slaves in their own 
country, and only underwent a change of masters. In the countries 
of Europe, and the States of our Confederacy, in which Slavery has 
ceased to exist, it was abolished by positive legislation. If the order 
of nature has been departed from, and a forced and artificial state of 
things introduced, it has been, as the experience of all the world de- 
clares, by them and not by us. 

That there are great evils in a society where slavery exists, and 
that the institution ^is liable to great abuse, I have already said. To 
say otherwise, would be to say'that they were not human. But the 
whole of human life is a system of evils and compensations. We 
have no reason to believe that the compensations with us are fewer, 
or smaller in proportion to the evils, than those of any other condition 
of society. Tell me of an evil or abuse ; of an instance of cruelty, 
oppression, licentiousness, crime or suffering, and I will point out, 
and often in five fold degree, an equivalent evil or abuse in countries 
where Slavery does not exist? 

Let us examine Avithout blenching, the actual and alleged evils of 
Slavery, and the array of horrors which many suppose to be its uni- 
versal concomitants. It is said that the Slave is out of the protection 
of the law ; that if the law purports to protect him in life and limb, 
it is but imperfectly executed; that he is still subject to excessive la- 
bor, degi-ading blows, or any other sort of torture, which a master 
pampered and brutalized by the exercise of arbitrary power, may 
think proper to inflict; he is cut off from the opportunity of intellec- 
tual, moral, or religious improvement, and even positive enactments 
are directed against his acquiring tlic rudiments of knowledge ; he is 
cut off forever from the hope of raising his condition in society, 
whatever may be his merit, talents, or virtues, and therefore depri- 



-20 

ved of the strongest incentive to useful and praiseworthy exertion ', 
his physical degradation begets a corresponding moral degradation j 
he is without moral principle, and addicted to the lowest vices, parti- 
cularly theft and falsehood; if marriage be not disallowed, it is little 
better than a state of concubinage, from which results general licen- 
tiousness, and the want of chastity amongfemales — this indeed is not 
protected by law, but is subject to the outrages of brutal lust ; both 
Bexes are liable to have their dearest affections violated ; to be sold 
like brutes; husbands to be torn from wives, children from pai-ents ; — 
this is the picture commonly presented by the denouncers of Slavery. 

It is a somewhat singular fact, that when there existed in our State 
no law for punishing the murder of a slave, other than a pecuniary 
fine, there were, I will venture to say, at least ten murders of free- 
men, for one murder of a slave. Yet it is supposed they are less 
protected, or less secure than their masters. Why they ai'e protected 
by their very situation in society, and therefore less need the protec- 
tion of law. With any other person than their master, it is hardly 
possible for them to come into such sort of collision as usually gives 
rise to furious and revengeful passions ; they offer no temptation to 
the murderer for gain ; against the master himself, they have the secu- 
rity of his own interest, and by his superintendence and authority, they 
are protected from the revengeful passions of each other. I am by no 
means sure that the cause of humanity has been served by the change 
in jurisprudence, which has placed their murder on the same footing 
with that of a freeman. The change was made in subserviency to the 
opinions and clamor of others, who were utterly incompetent to form 
an opinion on the subject ; and a wise act is seldom the result of le- 
gislation in this spirit. From the fact which I have stated, it is plain 
that they less need protection Juries are, therefore, less willing to 
convict, and it may sometimes happen that the guilty will escape all 
punishment. Hecuritij is one of the compensations of their humble 
position. We challenge the comparison, that with us there have been 
fewer murders of Slaves, than of parents, children, apprentices, and 
other murders, cruel and unnatural, in society where Slavery does 
not exist. 

But short of life or limb, various cruelties may be practised as the 
passions of the master may dictate. To this the same reply has beerl 
often given — that they are secured by the master's interest. If the 
state of Slavery is to exist at all, the master must have, and ought to 
have, such power of punishment as will compel them to perform the 
duties of their station. And is not this for their advantage as well 
as his ? No human being can be contented, who does not perform 
the duties of his station. Has the master any temptation to go be- 
yond this % If he inflicts on him such punishment as will perma- 
nently impair his strength, he inflicts a loss on himself, and so if he 
requires of him excessive labor. Compare the labor required of the 
Slave, with those of the free agricultural, or manufacturing laborer 
in Europe, or even in the more thickly peopled portions of the non- 
Slave-Holding States of our Confederacy — though these last are uo^ 



21 

fair subjects of comparison — they enjoying, as I have saitl, in a great 
degi-ee, the advantages of Slavery along.with those of an early and 
simple state of society, Kead the English Parliamentary reports, 
on the condition of the manufacturing operatives, and the children 
employed in factories. And such is the impotence of man to reme- 
dy the evils which the condition of his existence has imposed on him, 
that it is much to be doubted whether the attempts by legislation to 
improve their situation, will not aggravate its evils. They resort to 
this excessive labor as a choice of evils. If so, the amount of their 
compensation will be lessened also with the diminished labor ; for 
this is a matter which legislation cannot regulate. Is it the part of 
benevolence then to cut them off' even from this miserable liberty of 
choice ? Yet would these evils exist in the same degree, if the labo- 
rers were the property of the master — having a direct interest in pre- 
serving their lives, their health and strength 1 Who but a drivelling 
fanatic, has thought of the necessity of protecting domestic animals 
from the cruelty of their owners 1 And yet are not great and wan- 
ton cruelties practised on these animals % Compare the whole of 
the cruelties inflicted on Slaves throughout our Southern country, 
with those elsewhere, inflicted by ignorant and depraved portions of 
the community, on those whom the relations of society put into their 
power — of brutal husbands on their wives ; of brutal parents — sub- 
dued against the strongest instincts of nature to that brutality by the 
extremity of their misery — on their children; of brutal maste:r ~n 
apprentices. And if it should be asked, are not similar cruelties in- 
flicted, and miseries endured in your society % I answer in no com- 
parable degree. The class in question are placed under the control 
of others, who are interested to restrain their excesses of cruelty or 
rage. Wives are protected fiom their husbands, and children from 
their parents. And this is no inconsiderable compensation of the 
evils of our system ; and would so appear, if we could form any 
conception of the immense amount of misery which is elsewhere thus 
inflicted. The other class of society, more elevated in their position, 
are also (speaking of course in the general) more elevated in charac- 
ter, and more responsible to public opinion. 

But besides the interest of their master, there is another security 
against cruelty. The relation of Master and Slave, when there is no 
mischievous interference between them, is as the experience of all 
the world declares, naturally one of kindness. As to the fact, we 
should be held interested witnesses, but we appeal to universal na- 
ture. Is it not natural that a man should be attached to that which is 
This ovm, and which has contributed to his convenience, his enjoyment, 
or his vanity ? This is felt even towards animals, and inanimate ob- 
jects. How much more towards a being of superior intelligence and 
usefulness, who can appreciate our feelings towards him, and return 
them ] Is it not natural that we should be interested in that which is 
dependant onus for protection and support? Do not men every 
where contract kind feelings towards their dependants % Is it not 
natural that men should be more attached to those -vvhom they have 



22 

long known — whom, perhaps, they have reared or been associated 
with from infancy — than to one with whom their connexion has been 
casual and temporary 1 What is there in our atmosphere or institu- 
tions, to produce a perversion of the general feeHngs of nature 1 To 
be sure, in this as in all other relations, there is frequent cause of of- 
fence or excitement — on one side, for some omission of duty, on the 
other, on account of reproof or punishment inflicted. But this is 
common to the relation of j^arent and child; and I will venture to 
say that if punishment be justly inflicted — and there is no temptation 
to inflict it unjustly — it is as little likely to occasion permanent es- 
trangement or resentment as in that case. Slaves are perpetual chil- 
dren. It is not the common nature of man, unless it be depraved by 
his own misery, to delight in witnessing pain. It is more grateful to 
behold contented and cheerful beings, than sullen and wretched ones. 
That men are sometimes wayward, depraved and brutal, we know. 
That atrocious and brutal cruelties have been perpetrated on Slaves, 
and on those who were not Slaves, by such wretches, we also know. 
But that the institution of Slavery has a natural tendency to form 
such a character, that such crimes are more common, or more aggra- 
vated than in other states of society, or produce among us less sur- 
prise and horror,*\ve utterly deny, and challenge the comparison. 
Indeed I have little hesitation in saying, that if full evidence could be 
obtained, the comparison would result in our favor, and that the ten- 
dency of Slavery is rather to humanize than to brutalize. 

The accounts of travellers in oriental countries, give a very favora- 
ble representation of the kindly relations which exist between the 
Master and Slave ; the latter being often the friend, and sometimes the 
heir of the fomier. Generally, however, especially if they be English 
travellers — if they say any thing which may seem to give a favorable 
complexion to Slavery, they think it necessary to enter their protest, 
that they shall not be taken to give any sanction to Slavery as it exists 
in America. Yet human nature is the same in all countries. There 
ai*e very obvious reasons why in those countries there should be a 
nearer approach to equality in their manners. The master and Slave 
are often of cognate races, and therefore tend more to assimilate. 
There is in fact less inequality in mind and character, where the mas- 
ter is but imperfectly civilized. Less labor is exacted, because the 
master has fewer motives to accumulate. But is it an injury to a 
human being, that regular, if not excessive labor should be required 
of him ] The primeval curse, with the usual benignity of providen- 
tial contrivance, has been turned into the solace of an existence that 
Avould be much more intolerable without it. If they labor less, they 
are much more subject to the outrages of capricious passion. If it 
were put to tlie choice of any human being, would he prefer to be the 
Slave of a civilized man, or of a barbarian or semi-barbarian 1 But 
if the general tendency of the institution in those countries is to cre- 
ate kindly relations, can it be imagined why it should operate diffe- 
rently in^this ] It is true, as suggested by President Dew — with the 
exception of the ties of close consanguinity, it forms one' of the most 



2» 

intimate relations of society. AnJ it will be more and more so, the 
longer it continues to exist. The harshest features of Slavery were 
created by those who were strangers to Slavery — who supposed that 
it consisted in keeping savages in subjection by violence and terror. 
The severest laws to be found on our statute book, were enacted by 
such, and such are still found to be the severest masters. As society 
becomes settled, and the wandering habits of our countrymen altered, 
there will be a larger and larger proportion of those who were reared 
by the owner, or derived to him from his ancestors, and who there- 
fore will 1)0 more and more intimately regarded, as forming a portion 
of his family. 

It is true that the Slave is driven to labor by stripes ; and if the ob- 
ject of punishment be to produce obedience or reformation, with the 
least permanent injury, it is the best method of punishment. But is it 
not intolerable, that a being formed in the image of his B'laker, should 
be degraded by hloios ? This is one of the perversions of mind and 
feeling, to which I shall have occasion again to refer. Such punish- 
ment would be degrading to a freeman, who had the thoughts and 
aspirations of a freeman. In general it is not degrading to a Slave, 
nor is it felt to be so. The evil is the bodily pain. Is it degi'ading to 
a child ] Or if in any particular instance it would be so felt, it is sure 
not to be inflicted — unless in those rare cases which constitute the 
startling and eccentric evils, from which no society is exempt, and 
against which no institutions of society can provide. 

The ^ilave is cut off from the means of intellectual, moral, and reli- 
gious improvement, and in consequence his moral character becomes 
depraved, and he addicted to degrading vices. The Slave receives 
such instruction as qualifies him to discharge the duties of his particu- 
lar station. The Creator did not intend that every individual human 
being should be highly cultivated, morally and intellectually, for as we 
have seen, he has imposed conditions on society which would render 
this impossible. There must be general mediocrity, or the highest 
cultivation must exist along with ignorance, vice, and degi-adation. But 
is there in the aggregate of society, less opportunity for intellectual 
and moral cultivation, on account of the existence of Slavery 1 We 
must estimate institutions from their aggregate of good or evil. I 
refer to the views which I have before expressed to this society. It is 
by the existence of Slavery, exempting so Jarge a portion of our citi- 
zens from the necessity of bodily labor, that we have a greater propor- 
tion than any other people, who have leisure for intellectual pursuits, 
and the means of attaining a liberal education. If we throw away 
this opportunity, we shall be morally responsible for the neglect or 
abuse of our advantages, and shall most unquestionably pay the pe- 
nalty. But the blame will rest on ourselves, and not on the character 
of our institutions. 

I add further, notwithstanding ihdX equality seem^ to be the passion 
of the day, if, as Providence has evidently decreed, there can be but 
a certain portion of intellectual excellence in any community, it is 
better that it should be unequally divided. It is better that a part 



24 

should be fully, and higldy cultivated, and the rest utterly ignorant. 
To constitute a society, a variety of offices must be discharged, from 
those requiring but the lowest degree of intellectual power, to those 
requiring the very highest, and it should seem that the endowments 
ought to be apportioned according to the exigencies of the situation. 
In the course of human affairs, there arise difficulties which can only 
be comprehended, or surmounted by the strongest native power of 
intellect, strengthened by the most assiduous exercise, and enriched 
with tlie most extended knowledge — and even these are sometimes 
found inadequate to the exigency. The first want of society is — 
leaders. Who shall estimate the value to Athens, of Solon, Aris- 
tides, TKemistocles, Cymon, or Pericles ] If society have not lea- 
ders qualified as I have said, they will have those who will lead them 
blindly to their loss and ruin. Men of no great native power of in- 
tellect, and of imperfect and superficial knowledge, are the most 
mischievous of all — none are so busy, meddling, confident, presump- 
tuous, and intolerant. The whole of society receives the benefit of 
the exertions of a mind of extraordinary endowments. Of all com- 
munities, one of the least desirable, would be that in which imperfect, 
superficial, half-education should be universal. The first care of a 
State which regards its own safety, prosperity and honor, should be, 
that when minds of extraordinary power appear, to whatever depart- 
ment of knowledge, art or science, their exertions may be directed, 
the means should be provided of their most consummate cu.ltivation. 
Next to this, that education should be as widely extended as possible. 
Odium has been cast upon our legislation, on account of its for- 
bidding the elements of echication to be communicated to Slaves. 
But in truth what injury is done to them by this 1 He who works 
during the day with his hands, does not read in intervals of leisure 
for his amusement, or the improvement of his mind — or the excep- 
tions are so very rare, as scarcely to need the being provided for. Of 
the many Slaves whom I have known capable of reading, I have 
never known one to read any thing but the Bible, and this task they 
impose on themselves as matter of duty. Of all methods of reli- 
gious instruction, however, this, of reading for themselves would be 
the most inefficient — their comprehension is defective, and the em- 
ployment is to them an imusual and laborious one. There are but 
very few who do not enjoy other means, more effectual for religious 
instruction. There is no place of worship opened for the white 
pop"^"tion, from which they are excluded. I believe it a mistake, to 
say liiai the instructions there given are not adapted to their compre- 
hension, or calculated to improve them. If they are given as they 
ought to be — practically, and without pretension, aiid are such as are 
generally intelligible to the free part of the audience, comprehending 
all grades of intellectual capacity, they will not be unintelligible to 
Slaves. I doubt whether this be not better than instruction, addressed 
specially to themselves — which they might look upon as a device of 
the master's, to make them more obedient and profitable to himself. 
Their minds, generally, shew a strong religious tendency, and they 



&r6 foiul of assuming llie office of religioils ihsttuctel's loeacli othfer', 
and perhaps their religious notions are not much mf)re extravagant 
than those of a large portion of the fi-ee population of our countryt 
I am ilot sure that there is a much smaller pioportion of them, than of 
the free population, who make some sort of l-eligious profession. It 
is ceitainly the master's interest that they should havepropeV religious 
sentiments, and if he fails in his duty towards them, we may be sure 
that the consequences will be visited not upon them, but upon him. 

If there were any chartce of their elevating their rank and condition 
in society, it might be matter of liaidship, tliat they should be de^ 
barred those rudiments of knowledge which open the way to fuither 
attainments. But this they know cannot be, and that fuither attain- 
ments would be useless to them. Of the evil of this, I shall speak 
hereafter; A knowledge of reading, writing, and the elements of 
arithmetic, is Convenient and important to the free laborer, who is 
the transactor of his own affairs, and the guardian of his own inte- 
l-e<5t;s — but of wh-it use would they be to the slave 1 These al<me do 
not elevate the mind or character, if such elevation were desiral)le. 

If we estimate their morals act^ording to that which should be the 
standard of a free man's morality, then I grant they are degiaded in 
morals — though by no means to the extent wiiich those who are un- 
acquainted with the institution seem to suppose. We justly suppo?e> 
that the Creator will require of man; the performance of the duties of 
the station in which his Providence has placed him, and the cultivition 
of the virtues which are adapted to their performance; that he will 
make allov/ance for all imperfection of knowledge, and the absence of 
the usual helps and motives whicli lead to self correction and improve- 
ment The degi-udatioti of morals relates principally to loo?e noliors 
of honesty, leading to petty thefts ; to falsehood and to licenticus in* 
tercourse between the sexes. Though with resj-ect even to these, I 
protest against the opinion which seems to be elsewhere enteitaincd, 
that tliey arc universal, or that slaves, in respect to them, might not 
Well bear a comparison with the lowest laborious class of other coun^ 
tries. But certainly there is much dishonesty leading to petty thefts. 
It leads, however, to nothing else. They have no contracts or dea-* 
lings which might be a temptation to fraud, nor do I know that their 
characters have any tendency that way. They are restrained by the 
constant, vijrilant, and interested superintendence which is exerc sad 
over them, from the commission of otfences of greater magnitude— 'cven 
ifthev were disposed to them — which I am satisfied they are not. 
Notliinor is so rarely heard of, as an atrocious crime c<nnmitted by a 
slave ; especially since they have worn off the savage character which 
their progenitors brought with them fiom Africa. Their offences are 
confined to petty depredations, principally for the gratification of their 
appetites, and these for reasons already given, are chiefly confined to 
the property of their owner, which is most exposed to theniv They 
could make no use of a considerable booty, if they should obtain it, 
It is plain that this is a less evil to society in its consequences and 
example, than if committed by a freeman, whg iw master of his owa 
4 



3C 

time and actions. "With reference to society tiien, tiie oftence is les* 
in itself — rind may we not hope that it is less in the sight of God. A 
slave has no hope that hy a course of integrity, he can materially ele- 
vate his condition in society, nor csin iiis offence materially depress it, 
or aff.^ct his means of support, or that of his family. Compared to 
the freeman, he has no character to establish or to lose. He has not 
been exercised to self-government, and being without intelieclual re- 
sources, can less resist the solicitations of appetite. Theft in a free- 
mnn is a crime; in a slave, it is a vice. I recollect to have heard it 
said, in reference to some (]i?estion of a slave's theft which was agi- 
tated in a Court, " Courts of Justice have no more to do with a slave's 
stealing, than with his lying — that is a matter for the domestic forum." 
It was truly said — the theft of a slave is no offence against society^ 
Compare ail the evils resulting from this, with the enormous amount 
of vice, crime and depravity, which in an European, or one of our 
Northern cities, disgusts the moral feelings, and. render life and pro- 
perty insecure. So with respect to his fdsehood. I have never heard 
or observed, that slaves have any peculiar proclivity to falsehood, un- 
l3ss it he ill denying, or concealinof their own offences, or those of 
their fellows. I have never heard of falsehood told by a slave for a 
in dicious purpose. Lies of vanity are sometimes told, as amony the 
weak and igimrant of other conditions. Falsehood is not attributed 
to an individud charged with an offence before a Court of" Justice, who 
pleaJs nift guiltij — - md certainly the strong temptation to escape puu- 
ishmen% in the highest degree extenuates, if it does not excuse, false- 
hood told by a slain'. If the object be to screen a fellow slave, the act 
bears some semblance of hdelity, and perhaps truth could not be told 
without breach of confidence. 1 know not how to characterize the 
falsehood of a slave. 

it has often been said by the denouncers of Slavery, that marriage 
does not exist among slavt's. It isclilhcult to understand this, unless 
wilful falsehdod were intended. We know timt marriages are con- 
tracted ; may be, and often are, solemnized with the forms usual 
amoanf other classes of society, and often faithfully adhered to du- 
ring life. The law has not provided for makins" those marriages in- 
dissoluble, nor coidd it do so- If a man abandons his wife, being 
without property, and being both property themselves, he cannot be 
FRijuired to maintain her. If he abandons his wife, and lives in a state 
of co.icidiinaire with another, the law cannot punish him for bigamy. 
It mav perhaps be meant that the chastity of wives is not protected 
by law from the outrages of violence. I answer, as with respect to 
their lives, that they are protected by manners, and their position. 
Who ever heard of such outrages being offered ? At least as seldom, 
I will ven'ure to say, as in other communities of different forms of 
polity* Our reason doubtless may be, that often there is no disposi- 
tio 1 to resist. Another reason also may be, that there is little tempta 
tion to such violence, as there is so large a proportion of this class of 
familes who set little value on chastity, and afford easy gi-atification to 
tlte bot pasatous of men. It migUt U: supposed, from tiie i-cpreseat^ 



tions of some \rritGrs, that a slave-holding country were oor wide 
stew for the indulgiiiice of unbridled lust. Particular instan:;es of in- 
temperate and sliam^less dshauchery are related, \vh':cli may per- 
haps be true, and it is left to be inferred that this is the universal state 
of m.inners. Brutes and shameless debauchees there are in every 
country; w^ know th:it if such things are related as general or cha- 
racteristic, the re|)resent:iti()n is false. Who would argue from the 
existence of a Col. Chartres in England, or of some individuals who 
might, perhaps, be named in other portions of this country, of the 
horrid dissoluteness of manners occasiuned by the want of the insti- 
tution of Slavery. Yet the argument might be urged quite as fairl}', 
and really it seems to me with a little more justice — for there such 
depravity is attended with much more pernicious consequences. Yet 
let us not deny or extenuate the truth. It is true that in this respect 
the morals of this class arc very loose, (by no means so universally so 
as is often supposed,) and that the passions of men of the superior 
caste, tempt and lind gratification in the easy chastity of the females. 
This is evil, and to be remedied, if we can do so, without the intro- 
duction of greater evil. But evil is incident to every condition of so- 
ciety, and as I have said, we have only to consider in which institution 
it most predominates. 

Compare these prostitutes of our country, (if it is not injustice to 
call them so,) and their condition with those of other countries — the 
seventy thousand prostitutes of London, or of Paris, or the ten thou- 
sand of New- York, or our other Aorthern cities. Take the pic'ure 
given of the first from the author whom I have before quoted. " The 
laws and customs of England, conspire to sink this class of English 
women into a state of vice and misery, below that which necessarily 
belongs to their condition. Hence, their extreme degradation, their 
troopers' oaths, their love of <rin, their <lesperate recklessness, and 
the shortness of then- miserable lives." 

" English women of this class, or rather ffirls, for few of them live 
to be women, die like sheep with the rot ; so fast that soon there would 
be none lefr, if a fresh supply wcn^ not obtained equ.d to the number 
of deaths. But a fresh supply is always obtained without the least 
trouble : seduction easily keeps pace with prostitution or moitality. 
Those that die are, like factory children that die, instantly succeeded 
by new competitors for misery and death," There is no hour of a 
summer's or a wiiUer's night, i:i which there may not be found in the 
streets a gh is:lv wretch, expiring under the double tortures of disease 
and fimiiie. Thongli less aggravated in its features, the picture of 
prostitution in New-York or Philadelphia would be oflike character. 

In such communities, the unmarried woman who becomes a mo- 
ther, is an outc ist from soci'-ty — ind though sentimentalists lament 
the hardship of the case, it is justly and necessarily so. She is cut off 
from the hope of useful and profii able employment, and driven by ne- 
cessity to further vice, ijcr misery, and the hopelessness of retriev- 
ing, render her desperate, u)itil slic siidis in o every depth of depravity, 
aad is prepared for every crime that cuu coutamiuate aud iuf«»( 89ei««' 



9B 

ty. She has given birth to a human being, who, if it be so unfortu- 
nate as to survive its miserable infVincy, is commonly educated to a 
like course of vice, depravity and crime. 

Compare with this tije female slave under similar circumstances. 
She is not a less useful member of society than before. If shame 
be attached to her conduct, it is such shame as would be elsewhere 
felt for a venial impropriety. She has not impaired her means of 
support, nor materially impaired her character, or lowered her station 
in society ; she has done no great injury to herself, or any other hu- 
man being. Her oflspring is not a burden, but an acquisition to her 
owner; bis support is provided for, and he is brought up to usefulness j 
if the IVuit of intercourse with a freeman, his condition is, perhaps, 
raised somewhat above that of his mother. Under these circum- 
stances, with imperfect knowledge, tempted by the strongest of hu- 
man passions — unrestrained by the motives which operate to restrain, 
but are so often found insufficient to restrain the conduct of females 
elsewhere, can it be matter of surprise that she should so often yield 
to the temptation 1 Is not the evil less in itself, and in reference to 
society-— much less in the sight of God and man. As was said of 
th, t — the want of chastity, which among females of other countries, 
is sometimes vice, sometimes crime — among the free of our own, much 
more aggravated ; among slaves, hardly deserves a harsher turn than 
tha' of weakness, I have heard of complaint made by a free pros- 
titute, of the greater countenance and indulgence shewn by society 
towards colored persons of her profession, (always regarded as of an 
inferior and servile class, though individually free,) than to those of 
her own complexion. The former readily obtain employment; are 
even admitted into families, and treated with some degree of kindness 
and familiarity, while any approach to intercourse with the latter is 
shuinied as contamination. The distinction is habitually made, and 
it is foinided on the unerring instinct of nature. The colored prosti- 
tute is, in foct, a far less contaminated and depraved being. Still 
many, in spile of temptation, do preserve a perfectly virtuous conduct, 
and I imagine it barilly ever entered into the mind of one of these, 
that she was likely to be forced from it by authority or violence. 

It may be asked, if we have no prostitutes from the free class of 
society among ourselves. I answer in no assignable proportion. "With 
general truth, it might be said, that there are none. When such a 
case occurs, it is among the rare evils of society. And apart from 
other and better reasons, which we believe to exist, it is plain that it 
must be so, from the comparative absence of temptation. Our 
brtjtbels, comparatively very few — -and these should not be permitted to 
exisi; at all — are filled, for the most part, by importation from the cities 
of our confederate States,^ where Slavery does not exist. In return 
for the benefits which they receive from oiu- Slavery, along with tariffs, 
bbels, opinions moral, religious, or political--»they furnish us also 
with a supply of thieves and prostitutes. Never, but in a single in- 
stance, have I heard of an imputation on the general purity of man- 
«ers, among tiie free females of the slave-holding States, Such aa 



a) 

imputation, however, antl made in coarse terms, we have never heard 
},ere — Jure when^ divorce was never kno'.vn — where no Court was ever 
polluted hv an action for criminal conversation with a wife — where it 
is related rather as matter of tradition, not unmingled with wonder, 
that a Carolinian woman of education and family, proved false to her 
conjugal faith — an imputation descrvinir only of such reply as self-re- 
spect would forbid us to jrive, if respect for the author of it did not. 
And can it be doubted, that this purity is caused by, and is a com- 
pensation for the evils resulting from the existence of an enslaved class 
of more relaxed morals? 

It is mostly the warm passions of youth, which give rise to licen- 
tious intercourse. But 1 do not hesitate to say, that the intercourse 
which takes place with enslaved females, is less depraving in its eflects, 
than when it is carried on with females of their own caste. In the first 
place, as like attracts like, that which is unlike repels ; and though the 
strength of passion be sufficient to overcome the repulsion, still the at- 
traction is less. He feels that he is connecting himself with one of an 
inferior and servile caste, and that there is something of degradation in 
the act. The intercourse is generally casual ; he does not make her 
habitually an associate, and is less likely to receive any taint from her 
habits and manners. He is less liable to those cxtraordinaiy fascina- 
tions, Avith which worthless women sometimes entangle their victims, 
to the utter destruction of all })rinciple, worth and vigor of character, 
The female of his own race offers greater allurements. The haunrs 
of vice often present a sliew of elegance, and various luxury tempts 
the senses. They are made an habitual resort, and their inmates as- 
sociates, till the general character receives a taint from the corrupted 
atmosphere. Not only the practice is licentious, but the understanding 
is sophisticated ; the moral feelings are bewildered, and the boundaries 
of virtue and vice confused. Where such licentiousness \ery exten-- 
sively prevails, society is rotten to the heart. 

But is it a small compensatioji for the evils attending the relation of 
the sexes among the enslaved class, that they have "universally the 
opportunity of indulg-ng the first instinct ofnatm-e, bv forming matri- 
nmnial connexions 1 What painful restraint — what constant eftbrt to 
struggle against the strongest impulses, are habitually practised else^ 
where, and by other classes 'i And they must be practised, unless 
greater evils would he encountered. On the one side, all the evils of 
vice, with the miseries to which it leads — on the other, a marriao-e 
cursed and made hateful by want— the sufl'erings of children, and 
agonizmg apprehensions concerning their fiiture fate. Is it a small 
good, that the slave is free from all this ] He knows that his own 
subsistence is secure, and that his children will be in as good a condi, 
tion as himself To a refined and intellectual nature, it may not be 
dithcuh topra tise the restraint of which I have spoken. But the 
reasoning from such to the great mass of mankind, is most fallacious, 
lo these, the supply of their natural and physical wants, and the in- 
dulgence of the natural domestic afibc tions, must, for the most part. 
Bttord the greatest good pf wlUch thej are capable To the evils 



30 

which sometimes attend tiieir matrimonial connexions, aiisino- from 
their looser morality, slaves, for cbri )us reasons, are comparatively 
insensible. I am no apologist of vice, nor would I extenuate the 
conduct of the profligate and unfeeling, who would violate the sanctity 
of even these engagements, and occasion the pain which such violations 
no doubt do often inflict. Yet such is the truth, and we cannot make 
it otherwise. We know, that a woman's having been before a mother, 
is very seldom indeed an oijjection to her being made a wife. I 
know perfectly well how this will be regarded by a class of reasoners 
or declaimers, as imposing a character of deeper horror on the whole 
system ; but still, I will say, that if they are to be exposed to tiie evil, 
it is mercy that the sensibility to it should be bluirted. Is it no com- 
pensation also for the vices incident to Slavery, that they are, to a 
great degree, secured against the temptation to greater crimes, and 
more atrocious vices, and the miseries which attend them ; a"-aiiist 
their own disposhion to indolence, and the profligacy which is its com- 
mon result 1 

But if they are subject to the vices, they have also the virtues of 
slaves. Fidelity— often proof against all temptation — even death it- 
self — an eminently cheerful and social temper — what the Bible im- 
poses as a duty, but which might seem an equivocal viitue in the cade 
of modern morality — -submission to constituted authorilv, and a dis- 
position to be attached to, as well as to respect those whom they are 
taught to regard as suj>eriors. They may have all the knowledge 
which will make.them useful in the station in which God has been 
pleased to place them, and may cultivate the virtues which will render 
them acceptable to him. But what has the slave of any country^o 
do with heroic virtues, liberal knowledge, or elegant accoinplishmerM ? 
Jt is for the master ; arising out of his situation — imposed on him as 
jduty — dangerous and disgraceful if neglected— to compensate for 
this, by his own more assiduous cultivation, of the more generous vir- 
tues, and liberal attainments. 

It has been supposed one of the great evils of Slavery, that it af- 
fords tiie slave no opportunity of raising himself to a higher rank in 
society, and that he has, therefore, no inducement to meritorious exer- 
tion, or the cultivation of his faculties. The indolence and careless- 
ness of the slave, and the less productive quality of his lab^r,* ai'e 
traced to the want of such excitement. The first compensation for 
this disadvantage, is his security. If he can rise no higher, he is just 
in the same degree secured against the chanCes of falling lower. It 
has been sometimes made a q^uestion whether it were better for man 
to be freed from the perturbations of ho|)e and fvar, or to be exposed to 
their vicissitudes. But I suppose there could be little question with 
respect to a situation, in which the fears must greatly predominate over 
the hopes. And such, I apprehend, to be the condition of the laboring 
poor in countries where Slavery do-^^s not exist. If not exposed to 
present sufterinir, there is continual apprehension for the future — for 
themselves — for^their children— -of sickness and want, if not of actual 
starvatiotj. They expect to improve theii- circumstaaces ! WquIU 



any person ot onlinary candor, say that there is one in a hundred oi 
them, who does not well knovr, that with all tiie exertion lie can makCi 
it is out of his power materially to improve his circumstances ? I 
speak not so much of menial servants, who are j>;cnerally of a snpe- 
rior class, as of the agricultural and nKinufacturing laborers. They 
labor with no such view. It is the instinctive strusgle to preserve 
existence, and when the superior efficiency of their labor over that of 
oiy slaves is pointed oUtj as being animated by a free man's hopes, 
might it not well be replied— it is because they labor under a sterner 
compulsion. The laws interpose no obstacle to their raising their 
condition in society. ''J'is a great boon — but as to the great mass, they 
know that they never will be able to raise it — and it should seem not 
very important in effect, whether it be the interdict of law, or imposed 
by the circumstances of the society. One in a thousand is successful. 
But does iiis success compensate for the sutierinas of the many who 
are tantalized, baffled, and tortured in vain attempts to attfpn a like 
result ? If the individual be conscious of intellectual power, the suffer- 
ing is greater. Even where success is apparently attained, he some- 
times gains it but to die — or with all capacity to enjoy it exhausted — - 
Worn out inathe struggle with fortune. If it be true that the African is 
an inferior variety of the human race, of less elevated character, and 
more limited intellect, is it not desirable that the inferior laboring class 
should be made up of such, who will conform to their condition v.itli^ 
out painful aspirations, and vain struggles 1 

The slave is certainly liable to be sold. But, ])erhaps, it may be 
questioned, whether this is a greater evil than the liability of the laborer, 
in fully peopled countries, to be dismissed by his employer, with the 
Uncertainty of being able to obtain em[»loyment, or the means of sub- 
sistence elsewhere. " With us, the employer cannot dismiss his laborer 
with(»ut providing liim with another employer. His means of subsis-^ 
tence are secure, and this is a compensation for much. lie is also 
liable to be separated from wife or child — thoujjh not moi-e fre<(uentlyf 
that I am aware of, than the exigency of their condiion compels the 
separation of families among the laboring poor elsewhere — but fronf 
native character and temperament, the separation is much less severe« 
ly felt. And it is one of the compensations, that he may s!'stain these 
relations without suffering a still severer penalty for the indulgence. 

The love of liberty is a noble passion — to have the free, uncontrolled 
disposition of ourselves, oUr words and actions. But alasf it is one 
in which we know that a large portion of the human race can never be 
gratified. It is mockery, to say that the laborer any where has suclJ 
disposition of himself — though there may be an approach to it in some 
peculiar, and those, perhaps, not the most desirable, states of society. 
But unless he be properly disciplined and prepared for its enjoyment, 
it is the most fatal boon that could be conferred^— fatal to himself and 
others; If slaves have less freedom of action than other laliorers, 
which I by no means admit, they are saved in a great degree from the 
responsibility of self-govenunent, and the evils "springing from their 



own penefse wills. Those who have looked most closeif iiitA Iifc} 
Hiid know how threat a portion of litiman misery is derived" from these 
sources — the undecided and waverinjr purpose — producinir ineffectual 
exertion, or indolence with its thousand attendant evils-^the wayward 
conduct— intemperance or protlioacy---will most appreciate this bene^ 
tit. The line of a slave's duty is marked out with precision, and he 
has no choice but to follow it. He is saved the double ditficulty, fir.'<t 
of determining the proper course for himself, and then of summoning 
Up the energy which will sustain him in pursuing it; 

If some superior power sholdd impose on the laborious poor of any 
other country- — this as their unalterable condition^-you shall be saved 
from the torturing anxiety concerning- your own future support, and 
that of youi' children, which now pursues you through life, and 
haunts you in death— you shall be under the necessity of regular and 
healthful, though not excessive lab{)r"---in return, you shall have the 
ample supply of your natin-al Wants-^you may f(jllow the instinct of 
nature in becoming parents, without apprehending that this supply 
will fail yourselves or yoUr children — yoU shall be supj)orted and re- 
lieved in sickness, and in old age, Wear out the remains of existence 
among familiar scenes and accustomed associates, without being 
driven to beg, or to resort to the hard and miserable charity of a work 
house— you shall of necessity be temperate, and shall have neither the 
temptation nor opportunity to commit great crimes, or practice the 
more destructive vices — how inappreciable would the boon be thought ! 
And is not this a very near a|)proach to the condition of our slaves ] 
The evils of their situation they but lightly feel, and would hardly feel 
at all, if they were not sedulously instructed into sensibility. Certain 
it is, that if their fate were at the absolute disposal of a council of the 
most enlightened philanthropists in Christendom, with unlimited re-* 
sources, they could place them in no situation so favorable to them^ 
selves, as that which they at present occupy. But whatever good 
there mav be, or whatever mitigation of evil, it is worse than valueless^ 
because it is the result of SUivary, 

I am aware, that however often answered, it is likely to be repeated 
aimin and again— how can that institution be tolerable, by which a 
large class of society is cut oft' from the hope of improvement in 
knowledge; to whom blows are not degrading ; theft no more than a 
fixuh; falsehood and the want of chastity almost venial, and in which 
a husband or parent looks with comparative indiftcrence, on that 
which, to a freeman, would be the dishonoi of a wife or child '( 

But why not, if it produces the greatest aggregate of good 1 Sin 
and ignorance are only evils because they lead to misery. It is not 
our institution, but the institution of nature, that in the progress of 
society a portion of it should be exposed to want, and the misery 
which it brings, and therefore involved in ignorance, vice, and depr<i- 
vity. In anticipatinv some of the good, we also anticipate a portion 
of the evil of civilization. But we have it in a mitigated form. The 
want and the misery are unknown; the ignorance is less a misfortune, 



03 

Vecause tlie being in not tlie guardian of himself, and partly on ac- 
count of that involuntary ignorance, the vice is less vice — less hurtful 
to man, and less displeasing to God. 

There is something in this word tSlaveri/ which seems to partake of 
the qualities of the insane root, and distempers the minds of men. 
That which would be true in relation to one predicament, they mis- 
apply to another, to which it has no application at all. Some of the 
virtues of a freeman would be the vices of slaves. To submit to a 
blow, would be degrading to a freeman, because he is the protector of 
himself. It is not degrading to a slave — neither is it to a priest or a 
woman. And is it a misfortune that it should be so 1 The freeman 
of other countries is compelled to submit to indignities hardly more 
endurable than blows — indignities to make the sensitive feelings 
shrink, and the proud heart swell ; and this very name of freeman, 
gives them double rancour. If when a man is born in Europe, it 
v/ere certainly foreseen that lie was destined to a life of painful la- 
bor — to obscurity, contempt and privation — would it not be mercy that 
he should be reared in ignorance and apathy, and trained to the en- 
durance of the evils he must encounter? It is not certainly foreseen 
as to any individual, but it is foreseen as to the great mass of those 
born of the laboring poor ; and it is for the mass, not for the excep- 
tion, that the institutions of society are to provide. Is it not better 
that the character and intellect of the individual should be suited to 
the station which he is to occupy ? Would you do a benefit to the 
horse or the ox, by giving him a cultivated understanding or fine 
feelings 1 So far as the mere laborer has the pride, the knowledge, or 
the aspirations of a freeman, he is unfitted for his situation, and must 
doubly feel its infelicity. If there arc sordid, servile, and laborious 
offices to be performed, is it not better that there should be sordid, ser- 
vile, and laborious beings to perform them 1 If there were infallible 
marks by which individuals of inferior intellect, and inferior charac- 
ter, could be selected at their birth — would not the interests of society 
be served, and would not some sort of fitness seem to require, that they 
should be selected for the inferior and servile ofiices ? And if this race 
be generally marked by such inferiority, is it not fit that they should fill 
them l 

I am well aware that those whose aspirations are after a state of 
society from which evil shall be banished, and who look in life for that 
which life will never afford, contenq)lalc that all the offices of life 
may be performed without conlv-mpt or degradation — all be regarded 
as cujually liberal, or e(|ually respected. I5ut tlieorists cannot control 
jiature and bend her to their views, and the inequality of which I 
have before spoken is deeply founded in nature. The oftlces which 
employ knowledge and intellect, will ahvays be regaided as more libe- 
ral than those which only require the labor of the hands. When there 
is competition for euq)loyment, he who gives it bestows a favor, and it 
will be so received. He will assume; superiority from the power of 
dismissing his laborers, and from fear of this, the latter will practise 
deference^ often amounting to ser\ iluy. Such in time will become the 



34 

established relation between the enii)l()yer and the employed, the rich 
and the poor. If want be accoin])aiiied with sordidness and squalor, 
though it be pitied, the pity will be mixed with some degree of con- 
tempt. If it lead to misery, and misery to vice, there will be disgust 
and aversion. 

What is the essential character of Slavery, and in what does it 
dift'er from the servitude of other countries ? If I should venture on 
a delinition, I should say that where a man is compelled to labor at 
the will of another, and to give him much the greater portion of the pro- 
duct of his laboi", there Slavery exists; and it is immaterial by what 
sort of compulsion the will <if the laborer is subdued. It is what no 
liuman being would do without some sort <jf compulsion. He cannot 
be compelled to labor by blows. No — but what difference does it 
make, if you can inflict any other sort of torture which will be equally 
effectual in subduing the will 1 if you can starve him, or alarm him 
for the subsistence of himself or his family '( And is it not under this 
compulsion that the freeman labors % I do not mean in every parti- 
cular case, but in the general. Will any one be hardy enough to say 
that he is at his own disposal, or has the government of himself ? True, 
lie may chaiige his employer if he is dissatisfied with his conduct to- 
wards him ; but this is a privilege he would in the majority of cases 
gladly abandon, and render the connexion between them indissoluble. 
There is far less of the interest and attachment in his relation to his 
employer, which so often exists between the master and the slave, and 
mitigates the condition of the latter. An intelligent English traveller 
has characterized as the most miserable and degraded of all beings, 
" a masterless slave." And is not the condition of the laboring poor 
of other countries too often that of masterless slaves % Take the fol- 
lowing description of a free laborer, no doubt highly colored, quoted 
by the author to whom I have before referred. 

"What is that defective being, with callless legs and stooping shoul- 
ders, weak in body and mind, inert, pusillanimous and stupid, whose 
premature wrinkles and furtive glance, tell of misery and degradation ? 
That is an English peasant or pauper, for the words are synonimous. 
His sire was a pauper, and his mother's milk wanted nourishment. 
From infancy his food has been bad, as well as insujfficient ; and he 
now feels the pains of unsatisfied hunger nearly whenever he is awake. 
But half clothed, and never supplied with more warmth than suffices 
to cook his scanty meals, cold and wet come to him, and stay by him 
with the weather. He is married of course ; for to this he would 
have been driven by the poor laws, even if he had been, as he never 
was, sufficiently comfortable and prudent to dread the burden of a 
family. But though instinct, and the overseer have given him a wife, 
he has not tasted tlie highest joys of husband and father. His part- 
ner and his little ones being like himself, often hungry, seldom warm, 
sometimes sick without aid, and always sorrov.ful without hope, are 
greedy, selfish, and vexhig; so, to use his OAvn expression, he hates 
the sight of them, and resorts to his hovel, only because a hedg^e af- 
fords les.- shelter IVoni Ihr wind and rain, (/itni|)ell<'d by pari.^h lawM(» 



support his family, wliicii means to join them in consmningan allow- 
ance from the ])aVif-h, he frequently conspires with his wife to get that 
allowance increased, or prevent its heing- diminished. This brings 
beggary, trickery and (juarrelling, and ends in settled craft. Though 
Ije iiave the inclination, he wants the courage to become, like more 
energetic men of his class, a poacher or smuggler on a large scale, 
bvit he pilfers occasionally, and teaches his children to lie and steal. 
His subdued and slavish manner towards his great neighbors, shews 
that they treat him with suspicion and harshness. Consequently, he 
at once dreads and liates them ; but he will never harm them by vio- 
lent means. Too degraded to be desperate, he is only thoroughly 
depraved. His miserable career will be short ; rheumatism and asth- 
ma arc conducting him to the work house ; where he will breathe las 
last without one pleasant recollection, and so make room for another 
wretch, who nmy live and die in the same way." And this description 
or some other, not much less revolting, is applied to "the bulk of the 
people, the great body of the people." Take the following description 
of the condition of childhood, which has justly been called eloquent.* 

"The children of the very poor have no young times ; it makes the 
very heart bleed, to over-hear the casual street talk between a poor 
woman and her little girl, a woman of the better sort of poor, in a 
condition rather above die squalid beisigs we have been contemida- 
tino-. It is not of toys, of nursery books, of summer holidays (fitting 
that age) of the promised sight or play ; of praised sufficiency at 
school. It is of mangling and clearstarching; of the price of coals, 
or of potatoes. The questions of the child, that should be the very 
outpourings of curiosity in idleness, are marked with forecast and 
melanchofy providence. It has come to be a woman, before it was a 
child. It has learnt to go to market ; it chaffers, it haggles, it envies, 
it murmers ; it is knowing, acute, sharpened ; it never prattles." Ima- 
gine such a description applied to the children of negro slaves, the 
most vacant of human beings, Avhose life is a holiday. 

And this people, to whom these horrors arc familiar, are those who 
fill the world with clamor, conctjrning the injustice and cruelty of 
slavery. I speak in no invidious spirit. Neitlier the laws nor the 
government of England are to bo reproached with the evils which are 
inseparable from the state of their society — as little, undoubtedly, are 
we to be reproached with the existence of our Slavery. Including the 
whole of the United States— and for reasons already given, the whole 
ou«vht to be included, as receiving in no unequal degree the lieneht— 
may we not say justly diat we have less Slavery, and more mitigated 
Slavery, than any other country in the civilized world (■ 

That they arc called fr(>e, undoubtedly aggravates the suilerings of 
the slaves of other regions. They see the enormous inequality winch 
exists, and feel their own misery, and can hardly conceive otherwise, 
than that there is some injustice in the institutions of society to occa- 
sion tlvfise. They regard the apparently more fortunate class as op- 



Essays of Elia. 



3G 

pressors, ami it acids bitterness, tliat thcj should be of tlie same nanre 
and race. They feel indignity more acutely, and more of discontent 
and evil passion is excited ; they feel that it is mockery that calls them 
free. Men do not so much hate and envy those who are separated 
from them by a wide distance, and some apparently impassible barrier, 
as those who approach nearer to their own condition, and with whom 
they habitually bring themselves into comparison. The slave with us 
is liot tantalized with the name of freedom, to which his whole condi- 
tion gives the lie, and would do so if he were emancipated to-morrow. 
The African slave sees that nature herself has marked him as a sepc- 
rate — and if left to himself, I have no doubt he would feel it to be an 
inferior — race, and interposed a barrier almost insuperable to his be- 
coming a member of the same society, standing on the same footing 
of right and privilege with his master. 

That the African negro is an inferior variety of the haman race, is-, 
I think,, now generally admitted, and his distinguishing characteristics 
are such as peculiarly mark him out for tlie situation which he occu- 
pies among us. And these are no less marked in their original coun- 
try, than as .we have daily occasion to observe them. Tlie most 
remarkable is their indifference to personal liberty. In this they have 
followed their instincts siiice we have any knowledge of their continent, 
by enslaving each other; but contrary to the cxjierience of every other 
race, the possession of slaves has no material eftect in raising the 
character, and promoting the civilization of the master. Another trait 
is the want of domestic aftections, and insensibility to tlic tics of kin- 
dred. In the travels of the Landers, after speaking of a single ex- 
ception, in the person of a woman who betrayed some ti-ansient emo- 
tion in passing by the country from which slie had been torn as a slave, 
the authors add : " that Africans, generally speaking, betray the 
most perfect indifference on losing their liberty, and being de])rived of 
tlieir relatives, while love of country is equally a stranger to their 
breasts, as social tenderness or domestic affection." " Blarriage is 
celebrated by the nations as unconcernedly as possible ; a man thinks 
as little of taking a wife, as of cutting an ear of co-rn — affection is 
altogether out of the question." Tliey are, however, very submissive 
to authority, and seem to. entertain great rt;vercnce for chiefs, priests, 
and masters. No greater indignity cair be ofl'ered an individual, than 
to throw approbrium on his parents. On this point of their character, 
I think I have remarked, that, contrary to the instir.ct of nature in 
other races, they entertain less regard for ehiklren than for parents, 
to whose authority they have been accustomed to submit. Their 
character is thus summed up by the travellers quoted, " the few op- 
portunities we have had of studying their characters, induce us to 
iielieve that they are a simple, honest, inoffensive, but weak, timid, 
and cowardly race. They seem to have no social tenderness, very 
few of those amiable pri\ ate virtues which could win our affections, 
and none of those public (pialities that claim respect or command ad- 
miration. The love of country is not strong enough in their bosoms 
to incite them to defend it against a despicable foe ; and of the actire 



:J7 

cncrcy, nnblc sentiment?, and contempt of clanger wliicli distiniruisbes 
the North American tribes and otlier savages, no traces are to he 
found among this slothful people. Regardless of the past, as reckless 
of the future, the present alone iniliiciiees their aefions. In this re- 
spect, they approach nearer to the nature of the brute creation, than 
perhaps any other people on the face of the globe." Let me ask if 
this people do not furnish the very material out of which slaves ought 
to be made, and whether it be not an improving of their condition to 
make them the slaves of civilized masters. There is a variety in the 
character of the tribes. Some arc brutally, and savagely ferocious 
and bloody, whom it would be mercy to enslave. From the travellers' 
account, it seems not unlikely that the negro race is tending to exter- 
mination, being daily encroached on, and overrun by the superior 
Arab race. It may be, that when they shall have been lost fronj their 
native seats, they may be found numerous, and in no unhappy condi- 
tion, on the contiucnt to which they have been transplanted. 

The opinion which connects form and features with character and 
intellectual power, is one so deeply impressed on the human mind, 
that perhaps there is scarcely any man who does not almost daily act 
upon it, and in some measure verify its truth. Yet in spite of this 
intimation of nature, and though the anatomist and physiologist may 
tell them that the races difter in every bone and muscle, and in the 
proportion of brain and nerves, yet there are some, who with a most 
bigoted and fanatical determination to free themselves from what they 
have prejudged to be prejudice, will still maintain that tliis physiog- 
nomy, evidently tending to that of the brute when compared to that 
of the Caucasian race, may be enlightened by as much thought, and 
animated by as lofty sentiment, Wc who have the best opportunity 
of judging, are pronouiiccd to be incompetent to do so, and to be 
blinded by our interest and prejudices — often by those who have no 
opportunity at all — and we are to be taught to distrust or disbelieve 
that which we daily observe, and familiarly know, on such authority. 
Our prejudices are spoken of. But the truth is, that, until very lately, 
since circumstances have compelled us to think for ourselves, wc 
took our opinions on this subject, as on every other, ready formed from 
the country of our origin. And so deeply rooted were they, that we 
adhered to them, as most men will do to deeply rooted opinions, even 
against the evidence of our own observation, and our own senses. 
If the inferiority exists, it is attributed to the apathy and degradation 
produced by Slavery. Though of the hundreds of thousand scattered 
over other countries, where the laws impose no diability upon them, 
none has given evidence of an approach to even mediocrity of intel- 
lectual excellence, this too is attributed to the Slavery of a portion of 
their race. Tiiey are regarded as a scrvde caste, and degraded by 
opinion, and thus every generous efl'ort is repressed. Yet tliough this 
should be the general effect, this very estimation is calculated to 
produce the contrary efllect.in particular instances. It is observed by 
Bacon, widi respect to deformed persons and eunuchs, that tiiough in 
general there is something of perversity in the character, the disad- 



38 

vantan^e often lends to extraordinary displays of virtue and excel- 
lence. "Whosoever hath any thing fixed in his person that doth 
induce contempt, hath also a perpetual spur in himself, to rescue and 
deliver himself from scorn." So it would be with them, if they were 
capable of European aspirations — genius, if they possessed it, would 
be doubly ilrcd wilh noble rage to rescue itself from this scorn. Of 
course, I do not mean to say that there may not be found among them 
some of superior capacity to many white persons ; but that great 
intellectual powers are, perhaps, never found among them, and that 
in general their capacity is very limited, and their feelings animal and 
coarse — fitting them peculiarly to discharge the lower, and merely me- 
chanical offices of society. 

And why sliould it not be so ] We have among domestic animals 
infinite varieties, distinguished by various degrees of sagacity, con- 
rage, strength, swiftness, and other qualities. And it may be observed, 
that this is no objection to their being derived from a common origin, 
which we su])pose them to have had. Yet these accidental qualities, 
as they may be termed, liowever acquired in the first instance, we 
know that they transmit unimpaired to their posterity for an indefinite 
succession of generations. It is most important that these varieties 
should be preserved, and that each should be applied to the purposes 
for which it is best adapted. No i)liilo-zoost, I believe, has sug- 
gested it as desirable that these varieties should be melted down into 
one equal, undistinguished race of curs or road horses. 

Slavery, as it is said in an eloquent article published in a Southern 
periodical work,* to which I am indeljted for other ideas, " has done 
more to elevate a degraded race in the scale of humanity ; to tame the 
savage ; to civilize tlie barbarous ; to soften the ferocious ; to enlighten 
the ignorant, and to spread the blessings of Christianity among the 
hcatiien, than ;dl the missionaries that philanthropy and religion have 
ever sent forth." Yet unquestionable as this is, and though human 
ingenuity and thought may be tasked in vain to devise any other 
means by which these blessings covdd have been conferred, yet a sort 
of sensibility which would be only mawkish and contemptible, if it 
were not mischievous, aflects still to weep over the wrongs of " injured 
Africa." Can there be a dou])t of the immense benefit which has 
been conferred on the race, by transplanting them from their native, 
dark, and barbarous regions, to the American Continent and Islands 1 
There, three-fourths of the race are in a state of the most deplorable 
personal Slavery. And those who arc not, are in a scarcely less de- 
plorable condition of political Slavery, to barbarous chiefs — who value 
neither life nor any other human right, or enthralled by priests to the 
most abject and atrocious superstitions. Take tlie following testimony 
of one of the few disinterested observers, who has had an opportunity 
of observing them in both situations.! " The wild savage is the child 

* Southern Literary Messenger, for Januury, 1S35. Note to Blackstonc's Com- 
mentaries. 

t.Tonrnal of an oflicer employed in the expedition, luuler the connnand of Capt. 
Owen, on tlie Western Coast of Africa, 182i?. 



V)F passion, iiiiaiilca l.y one ray of religion or rnorahly to direct lurf 
course, in consequence of wliieli his existence is stained with every 
crime that can debase human nature lo alevel with the biute creation. 
Who can say that the shivcs in our cok)nies arc such 1 Are they not, 
by comparison with their still savage brethren, enUghtencd beings ? 
Is not the West Indian negro, therefore, greatly indebted to his mas- 
ter for making him what he is— for having raised him from the state 
of debasement' in which he was born, and placed him in a scale of 
civilized society] How can he repay him? He is possessed of 
nothing — the only return in his power is his servitude. The man who 
has seen the wild African, roamhig hi his native woods, and the well 
fed, happy looking negro of the West Indies, may, perhaps, be alile to 
judge of their comparative happiness : the former I strongly suspect 
would be glad to change his state of boasted freedom, starvation and 
disease, to become the slave of sinners, and the commiseration of 
saints." It was a useful and benificent work, ajjproachiiig the heroic, 
to tame the wild horse, and subdue him to the use of man ; how much 
more to tame the nobler animal that is capable of reason, and subdue 
him to usefulness ? 

We believe that the tendency of Slavery is to elevate the character 
of the master. No doubt the character — especially of youth — has 
sometimes received a taint and premature knowledge of vice, from 
the contact and association with ignorant and servile beings of gross 
manners and morals. Yet still we believe that the entire tendency is to 
inspire disgust and aversion towards their peculiar vices. It was not 
without a knowledge of nature, that the Spartans exhibited the vices of 
slaves by way of negative example to their children. We flatter our- 
selves that the view of this degradation, mitigated as it is, has the eflect 
of making probity more strict, the pride of character more high, the 
sense of honor more strong, than is commonly found where this insti- 
tution does not exist. Whatever may be the prevailing faults or vices 
of the masters of slaves, they have not commonly been understood to 
be those of dishonesty, cowardice, meanness or falsehood. And so 
most unquestionably it ought to be. Our institutions would indeed l)e 
intolerable in the sight of God and man, if, condemning one portion 
of society to hopeless ignorance and comparative degradation, they 
should make no atonement by elevating the other class by higlicr 
virtues, and more liberal attainments — if, besides degraded slaves, 
there should be ignorant, ignoble, and degraded freemen. There is a 
broad and well marked line, beyond which no slavish vice should be 
regarded with the least toleration <jr allowance. One class is cut off 
from all interest in the State — that abstraction so potent to the feelings 
of a generous nature. The other must make compensation by in- 
creased assiduity, and devotion to its honor and welfare. The love of 
wealth — so laudable when kept within proper limits, so base and mis- 
chievous when it exceeds thein — so infectious in its example — an in- 
fection to which I fear we have been too much exposed — should be 
pursued by no arts in any degree ecpiivocal, or at any risk of in- 
justice to others. So surely us there is a just and wise governor of 



^ 



40 

the universe, who punishes the sins of nations and communities, as well 
as of individuals, so surely shall wc sufter ])unishmcnt, if we are indif- 
ferent to that moral and intellectual cultivation of which the means 
are furnished to us, and to which we are called and incited by our 
situation. 

I would to heaven I could express, as I feel, the conviction how 
necessary this cultivation is, not only to our prosperity and considera- 
tion, but to our safety and very existence. We, the slave-holding 
States, arc in a hopeless minority in our own confederated republic — 
to say nothing of the great confederacy of civilized States. It is ad- 
mitted, I believe, not only by slave-holders, but by others, that we have 
sent to our common councils more than our due share of talent, Jiigh 
character and eloquence. Yet in spite of all these most strenuously 
exerted, measures have been sometimes adopted which we believed to 
be dangerous and injurious to us, and threatening to be fatal. What 
would be our situation, if, instead of these, we were only represented 
by ignorant and grovclhng men, incapable of raising their views 
beyond a job or petty office, and incapable of commanding hearing 
or consideration. May I be permitted to advert — by no means invi- 
diously — to the late contest carried on by South-Carolina against 
Federal authority, and so happily terminated by the moderation 
which prevailed in our pubhc counsels. I have often reflected, what 
one circumstance, more than any other, contributed to the successful 
issue of a contest, apparently so hopeless, in which one weak and 
divided state was arrayed against the whole force of the Confederacy — 
unsustained, and uncountenanced, even by those who had a common 
interest with her. It seemed to me to be, that we had for leaders an 
unusual number of men of great intellectual power, co-operating cor- 
dially and in good faith, and commanding respect and confidence at 
liome and abroad, by elevated and honorable character. It was from 
these that we — the followers at home — caught hope and confidence in 
the gloomiest aspect of our aftairs. These, by their eloquence and 
the largeness of their views, at least shook the faith of the dominant 
majority in the wisdom and justice of their measures — or the practi- 
cability of carrying them into successful eftect, and by their bearing 
and wdl known character, satisfied them that South-Carolina would 
do all that she had pledged herself to do. AVithout these, how differ- 
ent miaht have been the result 1 And who shall say what at this day 
would liavc been the aspect of the now flourishing fields and cities of 
South-Carohna'^ Or rather without these, it is probable the contest 
would never have been begun ; but that without even the animation of 
a struggle, we should have sunk silently into a hopeless and degradirig 
subjection. While I have memory — in the extremity of age— m 
sickness — under all the reverses and calamities of life — I shall have 
one source of pride and consolation — that of having been associated — 
according to my humbler poshion— v»'ith the noble spirits who stood 
prepared" to devote tliemselvcs for liiberty — the Constitution — the 
Union. May such character and such talent, never be wanting to 
South-Carolina. 



J 



41 

I am sure tliat it is unnecessary to say to an assembly like this, that 
the conduct of the master to his slave should be distinguished by the 
utmost humanity. That we should indeed regard them as wards and 
dependants on our kindness, for whose well being in every way we 
are deeply responsible. This is no less the dictate of wisdom and 
just policy, than of right feehng. It is wise with respect to the ser- 
vices to be expected from them. I have never heard of an owner 
whose conduct in their management was distinguished by undue 
severity, whose slaves were not in a great degree worthless to him. A 
cheerful and kindly demeanor, Avitli the expression of interest in them- 
selves and their alfairs, is, perhaps, calculated to have a better effect 
on them, than what might be esteemed more substantial favors and 
indulgencies. Throughout nature, attachment is the reward of attach- 
ment. It is wise too in relation to the civilized world around us, to 
avoid giving occasion to the odium which is so industriously excited 
against ourselves and our institutions. For this reason, public opinion 
.should, if possible, bear even more strongly and indignantly than it 
does at pi'esent, on masters who practise any wanton cruelty ou their 
slaves. The miscreant who is guilty of this, not only violates the law 
of God and of humanity, but as far as in him lies, by bringing odium 
upon, endangers the institutio)is of his country, and the safety of his 
countrymen. He casts a shade upon the character of every indivi- 
dual of his fellow-citizens, and does every one of them a personal 
injury. So of him who indulges in any odious excess of intemperate 
or licentious passion. It is detached instances of this sort, of which 
the existence is, perhaps, hardly known among ourselves, that, collec- 
ted with pertinacious and malevolent industry, affords the most formi- 
dable weapons to the mischievous zealots, who array them as being 
characteristic of our general manners and state of society. 

I would by no means be understood to intimate, that a visorous, as 
well as just government, should not be exercised over slaves. This is 
part of our duty towards them, no less obligatory than any other duty, 
and no less necessary towards their well being than to ours. I believe 
that at least as much injury has been done and suffering inflicted by 
weak and injudicious indulgence, as by inordinate severity. He whose 
business is to labor, should be made to labor, and that with due dili- 
gence, and should be vigorously restrained from excess or vice. This 
is no less necessary to his happiness than to his usefulness. The 
master who neglects this, not only makes his slaves unprofitable to 
himself, but discontented and wretched — a nuisance to his neiuhbors 
and to society. 

I have said that the tendency of our institution is to elevate the 
female character, as well as that of the other sex, and for similar rea- 
sons. In other states of society, there is no well defined limit to sepe- 
ratc virtue and vice. There are degrees of vice from the most flagrant 
and odious, to that which scarcely incurs the censure of society. 
Many individuals occupy an unequivocal position; and as society be- 
comes accustomed to this, there will be a less peremptory requirement 
of purity in female manners and conduct ; and ofren the whole of the 
6 



42 

society will be in a tainted and uncertain condition with respect to 
female virtue, Here, there is that certain and marked line, above 
which there is no toleration or allowance for any approach to license 
of manners or conduct, and she who falls below it, will fall far be- 
low even the slave. How many will incur this penalty? 

And permit me to say that this elevation of the female character is 
no less important and essential to us, than the moral and intellectual 
cultivation of the other sex. It would indeed be intolerable, if, when 
one class of the society is necessarily degraded in this respect, no 
compensation were made by the supeiior elevation and purity of the 
other. Not only essential purity of conduct, but the utmost purity of 
manners, and I will add, though it may incur the formidable charge 
of affectation or prudery, — a greater severity of decorum than is re- 
quired elsewhere, is necessary among us. Always should be strenu- 
ously resisted the attempts which have been sometimes made to in- 
troduce among us the freedom of foreign European, and especially 
of continental manners. This freedom, the remotest in the world 
from that which sometimes springs from simplicity of manners is cal- 
culated and commonly intended to confound the outward distinctions 
of virtue and vice. It is to prepare the way for licentiousness — to 
produce this effect — that if those who are clothed with the outward 
color and garb of vice, may be well received by society, those who 
are actually guilty may hope to be so too. It may be said, that there 
is often perfect purity where there is very great freedom of manners. 
And, I have no doubt, this may be true in particular instances, bvit it 
is never true of any socictj/ in which this is the general state of man- 
ners. What guards can there be to purity, when every thing that 7nay 
^ossfiZy be done innocently, is habitually practised; when there can 
be no impropriety which is not vice. And what must be the depth 
of the depravity when there is a departure from that which they ad- 
mit as principle. Besides, things which may perhaps be practised 
innocently where they are familiar, produce a moral dilaceration in 
the course of their being introduced where they are new. Let us 
say, we will not have the manners of South-Carolina changed. 

I have before said that that free labor is cheaper than the labor of 
slaves, and so far as it is so, the condition of the free laborer is worse. 
But I think President Dew has sufficiently shown that this is only true 
of Northern countries. It is matter of familiar remark that the ten- 
dency of warm climates is to relax the human constitution and mdis- 
pose to labor. The earth yields abundantly — in some regions almost 
spontaneously — under the influence of the sun, and the means of sup- 
porting life are obtained with but slight exertion; and men will use no 
greater exertion than is necessary to the purpose. This very luxu- 
riance of vegetation, where no other cause concurs, renders the air 
less salubrious, and even when positive malady does not exist, the 
health is habitually impaired. Indolence renders the constitution 
more liable to these effects of the atmosphere, and these again aggra- 
vate the indolence. N(jthiug but the coercion of slavery can over- 



43 

come the repugnance to laboi- nndcr these circumstances, and by sub- 
duiug the soil, improve and render wholesome the climate. 

It is worthy of remark that there does not now exist on the face of 
the earth, a people in a tropical climate, or one approaching to it, 
wliere slavery does not exist, that is in a state of high civilization, or 
exhibits the energies which mark the progress towards it. Mexico 
and the South American republics,* starting ou their new career of 
independence, and having gone through a farce of abolishing slavery, 
are rapidly degenerating, even from semi-barbarism. The only por- 
tion of the South American continent which seems to be making any 
favorable progress, in spite of a rich and arbitrary civil government, is 
Brazil, in which slavery has been retained. Cuba, of die same I'ace 
with the continental republics, is dally and rapidly advancing in in- 
dustry and civilization; and this is owing exclusively to her slaves. 
St. Domingo is struck out of the map of civilized existence, and the 
British West Indies will shortly be so. On the other continent, Spain 
and Portugal are degenerate, and their rapid progress is downward. 
Their southern coast is infested by disease, arising from causes which 
industry might readily overcome, but that industry they will never ex- 
ert. Greece is still barbarous and scantily peopled. The work of 
an English physician distinguished by strong sense and power of ob- 
servation,* gives a most affecting picture of the condition of Italy, — 
especially south of the Appenines. With the decay of industry, the 
climate has degenerated towards the condition from which it was first 
rescued by the labor of slaves. There is poison in every man's veins, 
affecting the very springs of life, dulling or extinguishing, with the 
energies of the body, all energy of mind, and often exhibiting itself 
in the most appalling forms of disease. From year to year the pes- 
tilential atmosphere creeps forward, narrowing the circles within 
which it is possible to sustain human life. With disease and misery, 
industry still more rapidly decays, and if the process goes on, it seems 



* The author of England and America thus speaks of the Colomhian republic : 
" During some j-ears, this colony has been an independent state ; but the people 
dispersed over this vast and fertile plains, have almost ceased to cultivate tlie good 
land at their disposal; they subsist principally, many of them entirely on the flesh 
of wild cattle; they have lost most of the arts of civilized hfe ; not a few of them are 
in a state of deplorable misery; and if they should continue, as it seems probable 
they will, to retrograde as at present, the beautiful pampas of Buenos Ayres will 
soon be fit for another experiment in colonization. Slaves, black or yellow, 
would have cultivated those plains, would have kept together, would have been 
made to assist each other ; would, by keeping together and assisting each other, 
have raised a surplus produce exchangeable in distant markets ; would have' 
kept their masters together for the sake of markets; would, by combination of 
labor, have preserved among their masters the arts and habits of civilized life." 
Yet this writer, the whole practical eflect of whose work, whatever he may have 
thought or intended, is to show the absolute necessity, and immense benefits of 
slavery, finds it necessary to add, I suppose, in deference to the general sentiment 
of his countrymen, " that slavery might have done all) this, seems not more plain, 
than that so much good would have been bought too dear, if its price had been sla- 
very." Well may we say that the word makes men mad. 
t Johnson on Change of Air. 



44 

that Italy too will soon 1)C ready for another experiment in coloniza- 
tion. 

Yet once it was not so, when Italy was possessed by the masters of 
slaves; when Rome contained her millions, and Italy was a garden ; 
when their iron energies of body corresponded with the energies of 
mind which made them conquerors in every climate and on every 
soil; rolled the tide of conquest, not as in later times, from the South 
to the North; extended their laws and their civilization, and created 
them Lords of the earth. 

"What conflux issuing forth or entering in ; 
Praetors, pro-consuls to their provinces, 
Hasting, or on return in robes of state. 
Lictors and rods, the ensigns of their power, 
Legions and cohorts, turms of horse and wings ; 
Or embassies from regions far remote, 
In various habits, on the Appian road, 
Or on th' Emilian ; some from farthest South, 
Syene, and where the shadow both way falls, 
Meroe, Nilotic isle, and more to West, 
The realms of Bocclnis to the Blackmoor sea ; 
From th' Asian kings, and Parthian among these ; 
From India and the golden Chersonese, 
And utmost Indias isle, Taprobona, 
Dusk fiices, with white silken turbans wreathed ; 
From Gallia, Gades and the British West ; 
Germans, and Scythians, and Sarmatians, North 
Beyond Danubius to the Tauric Pool! 
All nations now to Rome obedience pay." 

Snch was and such is the picture of Italy. Greece presents a 
contrast not less striking. What is the cause of the great change 1 
Many causes, no doubt, have occurred ; but though 

"War, famine, jDestilence and flood and Are 
Have dealt uiiou the seven-hilled city's pride," 

I will venture to say that nothing has dealt upon it more lieavily 
than the loss of domestic slavery. Is not tliis evident 1 If they had 
slaves, with an energetic civil government, would the deadly miasma 
be permitted to overspread the Campagna and invade Rome herself] 
Would not the soil be cultivated, and the wastes reclaimed] A late 
traveller* mentions a canal, cut for miles through rock and mountain, 
for the purpose of carrying off the waters of the lake of Celano, on 
which thirty thousand Roman slaves were employed for eleven years, 
and which remains almost perfect to the present day. This, the gov- 
ernment of Naples was ten years in repairing with an hundred work- 
men. The imperishable works of Rome which remain to the pre- 
sent day were for the most part executed by slaves. How difterent 
would be the condition of Naples, if for her wretched lazzaroni were 
substituted negro slaves, employed in rendering productive the plains 
whose fertility now serves only to infect the air! 

* Eight days in the Abnizzi. — Blackwood's Magazine, November, 1835. 



To us, on whom tliis instituliou is fastened, and who could nol shake 
it off, even if we desired to do so, the great republics of antiquity of- 
fer instruction of inestimable value. They teach us that slavery is 
compatible with the freedom, stability and long duration of civil gov- 
ernment, with denseness of population, great power, and the highest 
civilization. And in what respect does this modern Europe, which 
claims to give opinions to the world, so far excel them — notwithstand- 
incr the immense advantages of the christian religion and the discov- 
ery of the art of printing?- They are not more free, nor have per- 
formed more glorious actions, nor displayed more exalted virtue. In 
the higher departments of intellect — in all that relates to taste and 
imagination — they will hardly venture to claim equality. Where they 
liave gone beyond them in the results of mechanical philosophy, or 
discoveries which contribute to the wants and enjoyments of physical 
life, they have done so by the help of means with which they were 
furnished by the Grecian mind — the mother of civilization — and only 
pursued a little further the tract which that had always pointed out. 
Ln the development of intellectual power, they will hardly bear com- 
parison. Those noble republics in the pride of their strength and 
greatness, may have anticipated for themselves — as some of their po- 
ets did for them, an everlasting duration and predominance. But 
they could not have anticipated, that when they had fallen under bar- 
barous arms, tliat when arts and civilization were lost, and the whole 
earth in darkness — the first light should break from their tombs — that 
in a renewed world, unconnected with them by ties of locality, lan- 
guage or descent, they should still be held the models of all that is 
profound in science, or elegant in literature, or all that is great in 
character, or elevated in imagination. And perhaps when England 
herself, wdio now leads the war with which we arc on all sides threat- 
ened, shall have fulfilled her mission, and like the other glorious things 
of the earth, shall have passed aw^ay; when she shall have diffused her 
noble race and noble language, her laws, her literature and her civili- 
zation, over all quarters of the earth, and shall perhaps be overrun by 
some Northern horde — sunk into an ignoble and anarchical demo- 
cracy,* or subdued to the dominion of some Caesar, — demagogue 
and despot, — there, in Southern regions, there may be found many 
republics, triumphing in Grecian arts and civilization, and worthy of 
British descent and Roman institutions. 

If after a time, when the mind and almost the memory of the re- 
public were lost, Romans degenerated, they furnish conclusive evi- 
dence that this was owing not to their domestic, but to their political 
slavery. The same thing is observed over all the eastern monarchies; 
and so it must be, wherever property is insecure, and it is dangerous 
for a man to raise himself to such eminence by intellectual or mo- 
ral excellence, as would give him influence over his society. So it is 
in Egypt; and the other regions bordering the Mediterranean which 
once comprehended the civilization of the world, where Carthage, 

* I do not use the word democracy in the Athenian sense, but to describe the 
government in which the slave and his master have an equal voice iu pubUc aftairs. 



40 

Tyre and Plicenecia flourished. In short, the uncontradicted expe- 
rience of the world is, that in Southern States where good govern- 
ment and predial and domestic slavery are found, there are prosper- 
ity and greatness; where either of these conditions is wanting, degen- 
eracy and barbarism. Tlie former however is equally essential in all 
climates and under all institutions. And can we suppose it to be the 
design of the creator, that these regions, constituting half of the 
earth's surface, and the more fertile half and more capable of sustain- 
ing life, should be abandoned forever to depopulation and bai-barism? 
Certain it is that they will never be reclaimed by the labour of free- 
men. In our own country, look at the lower valley of the Mississip- 
pi, which is capable of being made a far greater Egypt. In our own 
state, there are extensive tracts of the most fertile soil, which are ca- 
pable of being made to swarm with life. These are at i)resent pesti- 
lential swamps, and valueless, because there is abundance of other fer- 
tile soil in more favorable situations, which demand all and more than 
all the labour which our country can supply. Are these regions of 
fertility to be abandoned at once and forever to the alligator and tor- 
toise — with here and there perhaps a miserable, shivering, crouching 
free black savage? Does not the finger of heaven itself seem to point 
to a race of men — not to be enslaved by us but already enslaved, and 
who will be in every way benefitted by the change of masters — to 
whom such climate is not uncongenial, who though disposed to indo- 
lence are yet patient and capable of labor, on whose whole features, 
mind and character, nature has indelibly written — slave; — and indi- 
cate that we should avail ourselves of these in fulfilling the first great 
command to subdue and replenish the earth. 

It is true that this labor will be dearer than that of northern coun- 
tries, where under the name of freedom, they obtain cheaper and 
perhaps better slaves. Yet it is the best we can have, and this too 
has its compensation. We see it compensated at present bj the su- 
perior value of our agricultural pi^oducts. And this superior va- 
lue they must probably always have. The Southern climate ad- 
mits of a greater variety of productions. Whatever is produced in 
Northern cUmates, the same thing, or something equivalent, may be 
produced in the Southern. But the Northern have no equivalent for 
the products of Southern climates. The consequence will be, that the 
products of Southern regions will be demanded all over the civilized 
world. The agricultural products of Northern regions are chiefly 
for their own consumption. They must therefore apply themselves 
to the manufacturing of articles of luxury, elegance, convenience or 
necessity, — which requires cheap labor — for the purpose of exchang- 
ing them with their Southern neighbors. Thus nature herself indi- 
cates that agriculture should be tlie predominating employment in 
Southern countries, and manufactures in Northern. Commerce is ne- 
cessary to both — but less indispensable to the Southern, which pro- 
duce within themselves a greater variety of things desirable to life. 
They will therefore have somewhat less of the commercial spirit. We 
must avail ourselves of such labor as we can command. Tiie slave 
must labour and is inured to it; v\^hile the necessity of energy in his 



47 

government, of watclifulncss, and of preparation and power to sti[>- 
press insurrection, added to the moral ftjrcc derived from the habit of 
command, may help to prevent the degeneracy of the master. 

Tlie task of keeping down insurrection is commonly supposed, by 
those who are strangers to our institutions, to be a very formidable 
one. Even among ourselves; accustomed as we have been to take 
our opinions on this as on every other subject, ready formed from 
those whom we regarded as instructors, in the teeth of our own ob- 
servation and experience , fears have been entertained which are abso- 
lutely ludicrous. We have been supposed to be nightly reposing over 
a mine, which may at any instant explode to our destruction. The 
first thought of a foreigner sojourning in one of our cities, who is 
awakened by any nightly alarm, is of servile insurrection and mas- 
sacre. Yet if any thing is certain in human aft'airs, it is certain and 
from the most obvious considerations, that we are more secure in this 
respect than any civilized and fully peopled society upon the face of 
the earth. In every such society, there is a much larger proportion 
than with us, of persons who have more to gain than to lose by the 
overthrow of government, and the embroiling of social order. It is in 
such a state of things that those who were before at the bottom of society, 
rise to the surface. From causes already considered, they are pecu- 
liarly apt to consider their sufferings the result of injustice and mis- 
government, and to be rancorous and embittered accordingly. They 
have every excitement therefore of resentful passion, and every temp- 
tation which tlie hope of increased opulence, or power or considera- 
tion can hold out, to urge them to innovation and revolt. Supposing 
the same disposition to exist in equal degree among our slaves, what 
are their comparative means or prospect of gratifying iti The poor 
of other countries are called free. They have, at least, no one interest- 
ed to exercise a daily and nightly superintendence and control over 
their conduct and actions. Emissaries of their class may traverse, 
unchecked, every portion of the country, for the purpose of organizing 
insurrection. From their greater intelligence, they have greater means 
of communicating with each other. They may procure and secrete 
arms. It is not alone the ignorant, or those who are commonly call- 
ed the poor, that will be tempted to revolution. There will be many 
disappointed men and men of desperate fortune — men perhaps of ta- 
lent and daring — to combine them and direct their energies. Even 
those in the higher ranks of society who contemplate no such result, 
will contribute to it, by declaiming on their hardships and rights. 

With us, it is almost physically impossible, that there should be any 
very extensive combination among the slaves. It is absolutely impos- 
sible that they should procure and conceal efficient arms. Their em- 
issaries traversing the country, would carry their commission on their 
foreheads. If we suppose amcMig them an individual of sufficient ta- 
lent and energy to quaJify hinr for a revolutionary leader, he could not 
be so extensively known as to command tlie confidence, which would 
be necessary to enable him to combine and direct them. Of the class 
of freemen, there would be no individual so poor or degraded (with 



48 

the exception perhaps of here and there a reckless and desperate out- 
Jaw and felon) who woidd not have much to lose by the success of such 
an attempt; every one therefore would be vigilant and active to de- 
tect and suppress it. Of all impossible things, one of the most im- 
possible would be a successful insurrection of our slaves, originating 
with themselves. 

Attempts at insurrection have indeed been made — excited, as we 
believe, by tlie agitation of the abolitionists and declaimers on slavery; 
but these have been in every instance promptly suppressed. We fear 
not to compare the riots, disorder, revolt and bloodshed which hav- 
been committed in our own, with those of any other civilized commu- 
nities, during the same lapse of time. And let it be observed under 
Avhat extraordinary circumstances our peace has been preserved. For 
the last half century, one half of our population has been admonish- 
ed in terms the most calculated to madden and excite, that they 
are the victims of the most grinding and cruel injustice and oppres- 
sion. We know that these exhortations continually reach them, 
through a thousand channels which we cannot detect, as if carried by 
the birds of the air — and what human being, especially when unfa- 
vorably distinguished by outward circumstances, is not ready to give 
credit when he is told that he is the victim of injustice and oppression? 
In effect, if not in terms, they have been continually exhorted to in- 
surrection. The master has been painted a criminal, tyrant and rob- 
ber, justly obnoxious to the vengeance of Grod and man, and they have 
been assured of the countenance and sympathy, if not of the active 
assistance of all the rest of the world. We ourselves liave in some 
measure pleaded guilty to the impeachment. It is not long since a 
great majority of our free population, servile to the opinions of those 
whose opinions they had been accustomed to follow, would have ad- 
mitted slavery to be a great evil, vxnjust and indefensible in principle, 
and only to be vindicated by the stern necessity which was imposed 
upon us. Thus stimulated by every motive and jiassion which ordi- 
narily actuate human beings — not as to a criminal enterprize, but as 
to something generous and heroic — what has been the result] A few 
imbecile and uncombined plots — in every instance detected before 
they broke out into action, and which perhaps if undetected would 
never have broken into action. One or two sudden, unpremeditated 
attempts, frantic in their character, if not prompted by actual insan- 
ity, and these instantly crushed. As It is, we are not less assured of 
safety, order and internal peace than any other people; and but for the 
pertinacious and fanatical agitation of the subject, would be much 
more so. 

This experience of security however should admonish us of the 
folly and wickedness of those who have sometimes taken upon them- 
selves to supersede the regular course of law, and by rash and violent 
acts to punish supposed disturbers of the peace of society. This can 
admit of no justification or palliation whatever. Burke I think some- 
where remarks something to this effect, — that when society is in the 
last stage of depravity — when all parties are alike corrupt and alike 



49 

tvickeduiid luijustifuible in their measures and objects, a good man 
may content liimself with standing neuter, a sad and disheartened 
spectator of the conflict b'itween the rival vices. But are we in this 
wretched condition? It is fearful to see with what avidity the worst 
and most dangerous characters of society seize on the occasion of ob- 
taining the countenance of better men, for the purpose of throwing off 
the restraints of law. It is alway? these who are most zealous and 
forward in constituting themselves the protectors of the public peace. 
To such men — men without re| utdti >n or principle or stake in soci- 
ety — disorder is the natural element. In that, desperate fortunes and 
the want of all moral principle and moral feeling constitute power. 
They are eager to avenge themselves upon society. Anarchy is not 
so much the absence of government as the government of the worst — 
not aristocracy but kakistocrac}' — a state of things, which to the honor 
of our nature, has seldom obtained amongst men, and which perhaps 
was only fully exemplified during the worst times of the French re- 
volution, when that horrid hell burnt with its most horrid flame. In 
such a state of things, to be accused is to be condemned — to protect 
the innocent is to be guilty; and what perhaps is the worst eflcct, even 
men of better nature, to whom their own deeds are abhorrent, are 
goaded by terror to be forward and emulous in deeds of guilt and vi- 
olence. The scenes of lawless violence which have been acted in 
some portions of our country, rare and restricted as they have been, 
have done more to tarnish its reputation than a thousand libels. Thry 
have done more to discredit, and if any thing cuuld, to endanger, not 
only our domestic, l)Ut our republican institutions, than the abolition- 
ists themselves. Men can never be permanently and elFectually dis- 
graced but by themselves, and rarely endangered but by their own in- 
judicious conduct, giving advantage t^ the enemy. Better, far better, 
would it be to encounter the dangers with which we are supposed to 
be threatened, than to employ such means for averting them. But 
the truth is, that in relation to this matter, so far as respects actual in- 
surrection, when alarm is once excited, danger is absolutely at an end. 
Society can then employ legitimate and severe effectual measures for 
its own protection. The very commission of such deeds, is proof 
that they are necessary. Let those who attempt them then, or make 
any demonstration towards them, understand that they will meet only 
the discountenance and abhorrence of all good men, and the just 
punishment of the laws they have dared to outrage. 

It has commonly been supposed, that this institution will prove a 
source of weakness in relation to military defence against a foreign 
enemy. I will venture to say that in a slave holding community, a 
larger military force may be maintained permanently in the field, 
than in any State where there are not slaves. It is plain that almost 
the whole of the able bodied fiee male population, making half of the 
entire able bodied male population, maybe maintained in the field, 
and this without taking in any material degi-ee from the labour and 
resources of the countij. In general the labor of our country is per- 
formed by slaves. In other countries, it is their laborers that form 
7 



50 

the material of their armies. What proportion of these can be taken 
away without fatally cripplinor their industry and resources'? In the 
war of the revolution, though the strength of our state was wasted 
and paralyzed by the unfortunate divisions which existed among our- 
selves, yet it iTiay be said with general truth, that every citizen was in 
the fiel-l and acquired much of the qualities of the soldier. 
■- It is true that liiis advantage will ba attended with its compensating 
evils and disadvantages; to which we must learn to submit, if we are 
determined on the maintenance of our institutions. We are, as yet, 
hardly at all aware how little the mixims and practices of modern civ- 
ilized governments will apply to us. Standing armies, as they are 
elsewhere constituted, we cannot have; for wo have not, and f<ir gen- 
eiations cannot have the materials out of which they are to be form- 
ed. If we should be involved in serious wars, I have no doubt but 
that some sort of ci)nscri])tion, requiring the services i-f all cilizens 
for a considerable term, will be necessary. Like the people of 
Athens, it will be necessary that every citizen should be a soldier, and 
qualified to discharge efficiently the duties of a soldier. It may seem 
a melancholy consideration, that an army so made up should be op- 
posed to the disciplined mercenaries of foreign nations. But we must 
learn to know our tiue situation. But may we not hope, that made 
up of superior materials, of men having home and country to defend; 
inspired by higher pride of character, of greater intelligence and 
trained by an eftective, though honorable discipline, such an army 
will be more than a match for mercenaries. The efficiency of an ar- 
my is determined by the qualities of its officers, and may we not ex- 
pect to have a greater proportion of men better (jualified for officers, 
and possessing the true spirit of military command. And let it be 
recollected that if there were otherwise reason to apprehend danger 
from insurrection, there will be*the greatest security when there is 
the largest force on foot within the country. Then it is that any such 
attempt Would be most instantly and crt'ectually crushed. 

And perhaps a wise foresight should induce our State to provide, 
that it should have within itself such military knowledge and skill as 
may be sufficient to organize, disc pline and command armies, by es- 
tablishing a military academy or school of discipline. Tlic school 
of the mihtia will not do for this. From the general opinion of our 
weakness, if our country should at any time come info hostile colli- 
sion, we shall be selected for the point < f attack ; making us, accord- 
ing to Mr, Adams' anticipation, the Flanders of the United States, 
Come from what quarter it may, the storm will fall upon us. It is 
known that lately when there was apprehension of hostility with 
France, the scheme was inslan'ly devised of invading the Southern 
States and organizing insurrection. In a popular English periodi- 
cal work, I have seenthe ])lan suggested by an officer of high rank 
and reputation in the British army, of invading the Southern States at 
various points and operating by the same means. He is said to be a 
gallant officer, and certainly had no conception that he was devising 
atrocious crime, as alien to the true spirit of civilized warfare, as the 



81 

poisoning of streams and fountains. But the folly of such schemes 
is no less evident than tlieir wickedness. Apart from the considera* 
tion of that whicli experience has most fully proved to he true — that 
in aeneral their attachment and fidelity to their masters is not to bo 
shaken, and that from sympathy with tlie feelings of those by whom 
they are surrounded, and from whom they derive their impressions, 
they contract no less terror and aversion towards an invading enemy; 
it is manifest that this recourse would be an hundied fold more avail- 
able to us than to such an enemy. They are already in our posses- 
sion, and we might at will arm and organize them in any number that 
we might tliink proper. The Helots were a regular constituent part 
of the Spartan armies. Tlioroughly acquainted with their characters 
and accustomed to command them, we might use any stiictness of 
discipline wliich would he necessary to render them eflective, and 
from their hahits of subordination already formed, this would be a 
task of less difficulty. Thoigh morally most timid, they are by nrt 
means wanting in physical strength of nerve. They are excitable by 
praise; and directed by those in whom they have confidetice, would 
rush fearlessly and unquestioning upon any sort of danger. With 
white officers and accompanied by a strong white cavalry, there are 
no troops in tlie world from wh(»m there would be so little reason to 
apprehend insu'.jorliuation or mutiny. 

This I admit might be a dangerous resource, and one not to be re- 
sorted to but ill great extremity. But I am supposing the case of our 
beitig driven to extremity. It might be dangerous to disband such an 
army, and reduce them with the liabits of soldiers, to their former 
condition of laborers, it might be found necessary, when once embo- 
died to keep them so, and subject to military discipline — a permanent 
standing arniy. This in time of peace would be expensive, if not 
dangerous. Or if at any time we should be engag d in hostilities 
with our neiijhbors, and it were thought advisable to send such an 
army abroad to conquer settlements for themselves, the invaded re- 
gions might have occasion to think that the scourge of God was again 
let loose to afflict the earth. 

President Dew has very fully shown how utterly vain are the fears 
of those, who though there may be no danger for the present, yet ap- 
prehend great danger for the future, when the number of slaves shall 
be greatly increased. He has shown that the large and more con- 
densed the society becomes, the easier it will be to maintain subordi- 
nation, supposing the relative numbers of the different classes to re- 
main the same — or even if there should he a very disproportionate in- 
crease of the enslaved class. Of all vain things, the vainest and that 
in which man most shows his impotence and folly, is the taking upon 
himself to provide for a very distant future — at all events by any ma- 
terial sacrifice of tlie present. Though experience has shown that 
revoliiticns and j-.oliiica! movements — unless when they have baen 
conducted with the most guarded caution and moderation — have gen- 
erally terminated in results just the opposite of what was e.^pected 
from them, the angry ape will still play his fantastic tricks, and put in 



52 

motion machinery, the action of which he no more comprehends or 
foresees than he comprehends the mysteries of infinity. The insect 
that is borne upon the current, will fancy that he directs its course. Be- 
sides the fear of insurrection and servile war, theie is also alarm lest 
when their numbers shall be greatly increased, their labor will become 
utterly unprofitable, so that it will be equally difficult for the master to 
retain and support them, or to get rid of them. But at what age of tiie 
world is this likely to happen] At present, it may be said that almost 
the whole of the Southern portion of this continent is to be subdued 
to cultivation; and in the oraer of providence, this is the task allotted 
to them. For this purpose, more labour will be required for genera- 
tions to come than they will be able to supply. When that task is 
accomplished, there will he many objects to which their labour may 
be directed. 

At pre33nt they are employed in accumulating individuil wealth, 
and this in one way, to wit, as agricultural labourers — and this is 
perhaps the most useful purpose to which their labour can be ap- 
plied. The eftect of slavery has not been to counteract the tendency 
to dispersion, which seems epidemical among our countrymen, invi- 
ted by the unbounded extent of fertile and unexhausted soil, th(»ugh 
it counteracts many of the evils of dispersion. All the customary 
trades, professions and employments, except the agricultural, require 
a condensed population for iheir profitable exercise. The agricultu- 
rist who can command no labor but that of his own hands or that of 
his family, must remain comparatively poor and rude. He who ac- 
quires wealth by the labor of slaves, has the means of imi>rovement 
for himself and his children. He may have a more extended inter- 
course, and consequently means of information aiid refinement, and 
may seek education for his children where it may be found. I say, 
what is obviously true, that he has the metnis of obtaining those ad- 
vantages; but I say nothing to palliate or excuse the conduct of him, 
who having such means neglects to avail himself of them. 

I believe it to be true, that in consequence of our dispersion, thousrh 
individual wealth is acquired, tlie face of the country is less adorned 
and improved by useful and ornamental public works, than in other 
societies of more condensed population, where there is less wealth. 
But this is an effect of that, which constitutes perhaps our most conspi- 
cuous advantage. Where popidation is condensed, they must have 
the evils of condensed population, and among these is the difficulty 
of finding profitable employment for capital He who has accumu- 
lated even an inconsiderable sum, is often puzzled to know what use 
to make of it. Ingenuity is therefore tasked to cast about for every 
enterprise which may affoid a chance of profitable investment. Works 
useful and ornamental to the country, are thus undertaken and accom- 
plished, and though the proprietors may fail of profit, the comnmni- 
ty no less receives the beneiit. Among us, there is no such difficul- 
ty. A sale and profitable method of investment is offered to every one 
v/ho has capital to dispose of, whicli is further recommended to his 
ieelincrs hv the sense of independence and the comparative leisure. 



53 

which the employment affords to the proprietor engaged in it. It is^ 
for this reason that ^ew ot our citizens engage in the pursuits of 
commeice. Thougli tliesemay be more profitable, they are also more 
hazardous and more hd)orious. 

When tlie demand for agricultural labour shall be fully supplied, 
then of course the labour (jf shives will be directed to otliei- employ- 
ments and ei.terprises. Already it begins to be found, ihat in some 
instances it may* be used as prohtably in works of public improve- 
ment. As it becomes cheaper and c heaper, it will be applied to more 
various purposes and combined in larger masses. It may be com- 
manded and combined with more faciUty than any otiicr sort of la- 
bour; and the labouier. kept in stricter subordination, will be les3 
dangerous to the security of society than in any other country, which 
is crowded ;md overstocked with a class of what are called free labor- 
ers. Let it be remembered that all the great and enduring monu- 
ments of hunvc-n art and industry — the wonders of Egypt — the ever- 
lasting works of Rome — were created by the labor of slaves. There 
•will come a stage in our progress when we shall have facilities for 
executing works as great as any of these — more usefid than the py- 
ramids—not less magnificent than the I\[e(-tic sea. What the end of 
all is to be; what mutations lie hid in the womb of the distant future; 
to what convulsions our societies nriy beexp.xed — whether the mas- 
ter, finding it impossible to live with his slaves, may not be compell- 
ed to abandon the country to them — of all this it were presumptuous 
and vain to speculate. 

I have hitherto, as I proposed, considered it as a naked, abstract 
question of the comparative good and evil of the institution of slave- 
ry. Very far different indeed is the practical question presented to 
us, when it is pniposed to get rid of an institution wliich has interwo- 
ven itself with every fibre of the body politic; which has formed the 
habits of owr society, and is consecrated by the usage of genera- 
tions. If this be not a vicious presciiptiim, which the laws of God 
forbid to ripen into right, it has a just claim to be respected by all Iri- 
bunals of man. If the negroes were now free and it were proposed 
to enslave tliem, then it would be incumbent on those who proposed 
the measure to show clearly that their liberty was incompatible with 
the public security. When it is proposed to innovate on the estab- 
lished state of things, the bu»-den is on those who propose the inno- 
vation, to show that advantage will be gained from it. There is no 
reform, however necessary, wholesome or moderate, which will not 
be accompanied with some degree of inconvenience, risque or suffer- 
ing. Those who acquiesce in the state of things which they found 
existing, can hardly be thought criminal. But most deeply criminal 
are they who give rise to the enormous evil with which great revolu- 
tions in society are always attended, without tl e fullest assurance of 
the greater good to be ultimately obtampd. But if it can be made to 
appear, even probably, that no good will be obtained, but that the re- 
sults will be evil and calamitous as tiie process, what can justify such 
innovations'? No human hcing can be so mischievous— if acting con- 



54 

sciously, none can be so wicked, as those who finding evil in existing 
institutions, rush blindly upon change, unforcsecmg and reckle.-s of 
consequences, and leaving it to < hance or fate to determine whetlier 
the end shall be improvement, or greater and more intolerable evil. 
Certainly the instiiicls of nature prompt to rewist nitolerable oppres- 
sion For this resistance nr) lule can be piescribed, but t must he 
left to the instincts of nature. To justify it however, the insurrec- 
tionists should at leisthave a reasonable probability of success, and 
be assured that theit condition will l>e improved by success. But 
most extraordiiiary is it. when those who complain and clamot, are 
not those who are supposed to feel the oppression, but persons at a 
distance from them, and who can hardly at all appreciate the good or 
evil of their situation. It is the unalterable condition of humanity, 
that men must achieve civil liberty for themselves. The assistance 
of allies h;is sometimes enabled nations to repel the attacks of for- 
eign power; never to conquei liberty as t:gainst their own internal 
government. 

In one th ng I concur with the abolitionists; that if emancipation 
is to be brought about, it i~ belter that it should be immediate and to- 
tal. But let us suppose it to be brought about in any manner, and 
then enquire what would be the effects. 

The first and most obvious effect, would be to put an end to the cul- 
tivation of our great southern staple. And this would be equally tl e 
result, if we suppose the emancipHied negroes to be in no way dis- 
tinguished from the free laborers of other countries, and that their la- 
bour would be equally effective. In that case, they would soon cease 
to be laborers for hire, but w.mld scatter the n-ielves overour unboun- 
ded territory, to become independent land owners themselves. The 
cultivation of the soil on an extensive scale, can only be carried on 
where there are slaves, or in countries superabounding with free la- 
bour. No such operations are cariied on in any portions of our own 
country when? there are not slaves Such are carried on in England, 
where there is an overflowing population and intense compftition 
for employment. And our institutions seem suited to the exigences 
of our respective situations. There, a ranch greater number of labour- 
ers is required atone season of the year than at another, and the Far- 
mer may enlarge or dnninish the quantity of labour he employs, as 
circumstance> may require. Here, about the same quantity of labour 
is required at every season, and the j)lanter suffers no inconvenience 
from retaining his labourers throughout the year. Imagine an ex- 
tensive rice or c .ttoa ulantation cultivated by free laborers, who 
might perhaps 5^/7'^e for an increase of wages, at a season when the 
neglect of a iew days would insure the destruction of the whole 
crop. Even if it were possible to procure laborers at all, what plan- 
ter would venure to carry on his operaiions under such circumstan- 
ces? I need hardly say that these staples cannot be produced to any 
extent where the proprietor of the soil cultivates it with his own 
hands. He can do little more than producu the necessary food for 
himself and his family. 



55 

And what would he the effect of putting an end to the cultivation 
of these sta])Ies, and thus anTiihilatino- at a blow, two thirds rr three 
f -urths of our fonign commerce? Can any sane mind contemplate 
such a result without terror? I speak iiot of the utter poverty and 
niisery to vvhicli we ourselves would be reduced, and the desolation 
which would overspread our own portion of the counlrv. (Jur sla- 
very has not only given existence to mdlions of slaves within our own 
territories, it has given the meai.s of snb^istence and therefore exist- 
ence to millions of fr^^emen in our ctmfederate States; enablingthem 
to send forth theii- swarms, to overspread the plains and forests^of the 
West and appear as the harbingers of civilization. The jn. -ducts of 
the industry of those States are in general similar to tlnse of the 
civilized world, and are little demanded in their markets. By ex- 
chanfring iht m for ours, vvhicli are eveiy where sought for, the peo- 
pie of the>e States are enabled to acquire all the products of art and 
industry, all that contributes to convenience or luxury, orrrrntiHes the 
taste or the inteleci, whicli th • rest of the world can sup[)ly. Not 
only on our own continent, but on the other, it has given existence to 
hundreds of thousands, and the means of comfortable subsistence to 
millions. A distiiifjni^hed citizen of oui own state, than whom none 
can be better qualified to form an oyrlnion, has lately stated that our 
great stajjle, cotton, lias contributed more than any thing else of later 
times to the pro,rress ..f civilization. By enabling the poor to obtain 
cheip and becoming clothing, it has inspired a taste f)r comfort, tho 
first stimulus to civilization. Does nnt self defence then demand of 
us, steadily to resist the abiogation of that which is productive of so 
much good? It is more than self defence. It is to defend millions of 
human beings, who are far removed from us, from the intensest siif- 
fering, if no; from being struck out of existence. It is the defence 
of human civilization. 

But this is but a small part of the evil which would be occasioned. 
After President Dew, it is unnecessary to say a single word on the 
practicability of colonizing our slaves. The two races, so widely sep- 
erated from each other by the impress of ufjture. must remain togeth- 
er in the same countiy. Whether it be accounted the result of°pre- 
judice or reason, it is certain thnt the tw.. races will not be blended to- 
gether soasto f -rm a h<miogenous population. To rme who knows 
any thing of the nature of man and human society, it would be un- 
i.ecessary to aiguo that this state of things cai'not continue; but 
that one race must be driven out by the other, or exterminated, or 
again enslaved. I have argued on the supposition that the emancipa- 
ted negroes would be as efficient as other free laborers But what- 
ever theorists, who know nothing of the matter, may think proper to 
assume, we well know that t'lis would not be so. We know that 
nothing but the coercion of slavery can overcome their propensity to 
indolence, and that not one in ten would be an efficient laborer. 
Even if this disposition were not grounded in their nature, it would 
be a result of their position. I liave somewhere seen it observed, that 
to be degraded by oi)inion, is a thousand fold worse, so far as the feel- 



56 

ings of ihe individual are concerned, than to be degraded by llie iaWs. 
T'//,e_y would be thus de'jraded, and this feelinw is incompatible with 
habits of order and industry. Half our population would at once be 
paupers. Lst an inhabitant of New York or Philadelphia conceive 
of the situation of ih^ir respective l?*tates, if one half of iheir popu- 
lation consisted of free negroes. The tie which now connects them 
being broken, the ditt'erent races would be estranged from each other, 
and hostility would grow up between them. Having the comman 1 of 
their own time and actions, they could more etfectually combii.e in- 
surrecion and provide the means of rendering it formidable. Re- 
leased from the vigilant superintendance which now restrains them, 
they would infallibly be led from petty to greater crimes, until all life 
and property would be rendered insecure. Aggression would beget 
retaliation, until open war — and that a war of extermination were es- 
tablished. From the still remaining superiority of the white race, it is 
probable that they would be the victors, and if they did not extermi- 
nate, they must again reduce the others to slavery — when they could 
be no lonofer fit to be either slaves or freemen. It is not only in self 
defence, in defence of our country and of all that is dear to us, but in 
defence of the slaves themselves that we refuse to emancipate them. 
If we suppose them to have political privileges, and to be admitted 
to the elective franchise, still worse results may be expected. It is 
hardly necessary to add any thing to whathas beensaid by Mr. Pauld- 
ing on this subject, who has treated it fully. It is already known, that 
if there be a class unfavorably distinguished by any peculiarity from 
the rest of society, this distinction forms a tie which binds them to act 
in concert, and they exerci e more than their due share of political 
power and influence — and still more, as they arc of inferior character 
and looser moral principle. Such a class fotm the very material for 
demagogues to work with. Other parties court them and concede to 
them. So it would be withthe free blacks in the case supposed. They 
would be used bv unprincipled politicians, of irregular ambition, for 
the advancement of their schemes, until they should give them politi- 
cal power and importance beyond even their own intentions. They 
would be courted by excited parties in their contests with each other. 
At some time, they may perhaps attain political ascendency, and this 
is more probable, as we may suppose that there will have been a great 
emiirration of whites from the country. Imagine the government of 
such legislators. Imagine then the sort of laws that will be passed, to 
confound the invidious distinction which has been so long assumed 
over ihem, and if possible to obliterate the every memory of it. These 
will be resisted. The blacks will be tempted to avenge themselves by 
oppression and proscription of the white race, for their long superior- 
ity. Thus matters will go on, until universal anarchy, or kakisto- 
cracy. the government of the worst, is fully established. I am per- 
suaded that if the spirit of evil should devise to send abroad upon the 
earth all possible misery, discord, horror and atrocity, he could con- 
trive no scheme so effectual as the emancipation of negro slaves with- 
in our country. 



57 

The most feasible scheme of emancipation, and that which I verily 
believe would involve the least danger and sacrifice, would be that the 
ejifirc white population should emigrate, and abandon the country to 
their slaves. Here would be triumph to philanthrophy. This wide 
and fertde region would l)e again restored to ancient barbarism — to 
the worst of all barbarism — barbarism corrupted and depraved by in- 
tercourse with civilization. And this is tiie consummation to be wish- 
ed, upon a spi-vulatJun, that in some distant future age, they may be- 
come so enlightened anil improved, as to be capable of sustaining a 
position among the civilized races of the earth. But I believe mo- 
ralists allow men to defend their homes and their country, even at the 
expense of the lives and liberties of others. 

Will any philanthropist say that the evils, of which I have spoken, 
would be brought about on!}' by the obduracy, prejudices and over- 
weaning sL'lf estimation of tlis whites i)i refusing to blend the races by 
marriagj, and socreite an homogenous population. But what if it 
be not prejudice, but truth, and nature, and right reason, and just mo- 
ral feeling] As 1 have before said, throughout the whole of nature, 
like attrasts like, and that which is unlike repels. What is it that makes 
so unspeakably loarhsoms, crimes not to be named, and hardly allu- 
ded to'^ Even amouifthe tiations of Europe, so nearly homogenous, 
there aresom^ peculiarities of form and feature, mind and character, 
which m ly be generally distinguished by those accustomed to observe 
them. Thougli the exceptions are immerous, I will venture to sav 
that not in one instance in a hundred, is the man of sound and unso- 
phisticated tastes and propensiiies so likely to be attracted by the fe- 
male (.>"a foreign stock, as by one «)f his own, who is more nearly con- 
formed to himself. Sliakspeare spoke the language of nature, 
when he made tlie senate and people of Venice attribute to the effect 
of witchcraft, Desdemona's passion for Othello — though, as Cole- 
ridge has said, we are to conceive of him not as a negro, but as a 
high bred, Moorish Chief. 

If the negro race, as 1 have contended, be inferior to our own in 
mind and cliaracter. m irkeJ by inferiority of form and features, then 
ours would suffer deteriora!:ion from such intermixture. What would 
be thouglit of the moral conduct of the parent who should voluntarily 
transmit disease, or fatuity, or deformity to his oftspringi If man be 
the most perfect work of the creator, and the civilized European man 
the most perfect variety of the human race, is he not criminal who 
would desecrate and .leface God's fairest work; estranginsr it further 
from the image of himself, and conforming it more nearly to that of 
the brute. I have heard it said, as if it afforded an argument, that 
the African is as well satisfied of the superiority of his own complex- 
ion, form and features, as we can be of ours. If this were true, as it 
is not, would any one be so recreant to his own civilization, as to say 
that his opinion ought to wei»h against ours — that there is no univer- 
sal standard of truth and grace and beauty — that the Hottentot Venuf5 
may perchance possess as great perfection of form as the Medicean? 
It is true, the Jicemious passioni* of men overcome the natural repug- 



68 

nance, and find transient gratification in intercourse with females of 
the other race. But this is a very ditFerent thing from making her 
the associate of life, the companion of the bosom and the hearth. Him 
who would contemplate duch an alliance for himself, or regard it with 
patience, when proposed for a son or daughter or sister, we should 
esteem a degraded wretch — with justice, ccrtaiidy, if he were found 
among ourselves — and the estimate would not be very difl^'erent if he 
were found in Europe. It is not only in defence of ourselves, of our 
country and of our own generation, that we refuse to emancipate our 
slaves, but to defend our posterity and race from degeneracy and de- 
gradation. 

Are we not justified then in regarding as criminals, the fanatical 
agitators whose efforts are intended to bring about the evils I have 
described. It is sometimes said that their zeal is generous and dissin- 
terested, and that their motives may be praised, though their conduct 
be condemned. But I have little faith in the good motives of those 
who pursue bad ends. It is not for us to scrutinize the hearts of men, 
and we can only judge of them by the tendency of their actions. 
There is much truth in what was said by Coleridge. "I have never 
known a trader in philanthropy who was not wrong in heart somehow 
or other. Individuals so distinguished, are usually unhappy in their 
family relations— men not benevolent or beneficent to individuals, but 
almost hostile to them, yet lavishing money and labor and time on 
the race — the abstract notion," The prevalent love of notoriety ac- 
tuates some. There is much luxury in sentiment, especially if it can 
be indu gcd at the expense of others, and if there be added some 
share of envy or malignity, the temptation to indulgence is almost 
irresistible. But certainly they may be justly regarded as criminal, 
who obstinately shut their eyes and close their ears to all instruction 
with respect to the true nature of their actions. 

It must be manifest to every man of sane mind that it is impossible 
for them to achieve ultimate success; even if every individual in our 
country, out of the limits of the slave holding states, were united in 
their purposes. They cannot have even the miserable tiiumph of 
St. Domingo — of advancing through scenes of atrocity, blood and 
massacre, to the restoration of barbarism. They may agitate and 
perplex the world for a time. They may excite to desperate attempts 
and particular acts of cruelty and horror, but these will always be 
suppressed or avenged at the expense of the objects of their trucu- 
lent philanthi-opy. But short of this, they can hardly be aware of 
the extent of the mischief they perpetrate. As I have said, their 
opinions, by means to us inscrutable, do very generally reach our 
slave population. What human being, if unfavorably distinguished 
by outward circumstances, is not ready to believe when he is told that 
he is the victim of injustice? Is it not cruelty to make men restless 
and dissatisfied in their condition, when no effort of theirs can alter 
it"? The greatest injury is done to their characters, as well as to their 
happiness. Even if no such feelings or designs should he entertain- 
ed or conceived by the slave, they will be attributed to him by the mas- 



69 

ter, and all his conduct scanned with a severe and jealous scrutiny. 
Thus distrust and aversion are established, where, but for mischievous 
interference, there would be confidence and good will, and a sterner 
control is exercised over the slave who thus becomes the victim of his 
cruel advocates. 

An effect is sometimes produced on the minds of slave holders, by 
the publications of the self styled philanthropists, and their judgments 
staggered and consciences alarmed. It is natural that the oppressed 
should hate the oppressor. It is still more natural that the opjiressor 
should hate his victim. Convince the master that he is doing injus- 
tice to his slave, and he at once begins to regard him with distrust 
and malignity. It is a part of the constitution of the human mind, 
that when circumstances of necessity or temptation induce men to 
continue in the practice of what they believe to be wrong, they be- 
come desperate and reckless of the degree of wrong. I have foitner- 
ly heard of a master who accounted for his practising much severity 
upon his slaves, and exacting from them an unusual degree of labor, 
by saying that the thing (slavery) was altogether wrong, and therefore 
it was well to make the greatest possible advantage out of it. This 
agitation occasions some slave holders to hang more loosely on their 
country. Regarding the institution as of questionable character, 
condemned by the general opinion of the world, and one which must 
shortly come to an end, they hold themselves in readiness to make 
their escape from the evil which they anticipate. Some sell their 
slaves to new masters (always a misfortune to the slave) and remove 
themselves to other societies, of manners and habits uncongenial to 
their own. And though we may suppose that it is only the weak and 
the timid who are liable to be thus affected, still it is no less an injury 
and public misfortune. Society is kept in an unquiet and restless 
state, and every sort of improvement is retarded. 

Some projectors suggest the education of slaves, with a view to pre- 
pare them for freedom — as if tiiere were any method of a man's 
being educated to freedom, but by hiniself. The truth is however, 
that supposing that they are shortly to be emancipated, and that they 
have the capacities of any other race, they are undoing the very best 
education which it possible to give. They are in the course of be- 
ing taught habits of regular and patient industry, and this is the first 
lesson which is required. I suppose, that their most zealous advo- 
cates would not desire that they should be placed in the high places 
of society immediately upon their emancipation, but that they should 
begin their course of freedom as laborers, and raise themselves after- 
wards as their capacities and characters might enable them. But 
how little would what are commonly called the rudiments of educa- 
tion, add to their qualifications as laborers] But for the agitation 
which exists however, their education would be carried further than 
this. There is a constant tendency in our society to extend the sphere 
ot their employments, and consequently to give them tlie information 
which is necessary to the discharge of those employments. And this 
for the most obvious reason, it promotes the master's interest. How 



60 

much would it add to the value of a slave, that he should be capable 
of being employed as a clt;rk, or be able to make calculations as a 
mechanic? In consi'(iuence, however, of tlie fai.aiical spirit which 
has been excited, it his been tliougiit necessary to repress this ten- 
dencv by legislation, and to prevent their acqniring tii • kn(j\\ ledgr of 
which t'ley might mike a dangerous use. If th.ssph-it were put down, 
and wv restored to the coascioiisness of secin-it\, this would be no 
longer necessary, and tha process of which I have sp(tken would be 
accelerated. Wlie;iever indications of supeiior ca;jaciiy appeared in 
a slave, it would be cultivated; gradual improvement would take 
place, until they might be engagiid in as various employments as they 
were amon<j tlie ancients — perhaps even liberal ones. Thus, if in the 
adorable providence of God, at a time and in a manner which we 
can neither foresee nor conjecture, they are to be rendered capable of 
freedom and to enjoy it, they would be prepared for ii. in the best "and 
most effectual, because in the most natural and gradual manner. But 
fanaticism hurries to its eflect at once. 1 have heard it said, Gcd does 
good, but it is by imperceptible degrees; the Devil is permilted to do 
evil, and he does it in a hurry. The beneficent processes of nature 
are not apparent to the senses. Yon connot see the plant irrow or the 
flower expand. The volcano, the earthquake and the hurricane do 
their work of desolation in a moment. Such would l.e the desola- 
tion, if the schemes of fanatics were permitted to liave effect. They 
do all that in them lies to thwart the benificent purposes of providence. 
The whole tendency of their, efforts is to aggravate present suffering 
and to cut off the cliance of future improvement, and in all their 
bearings and results, have produced, and are likely to produce, noth- 
ing but "fierce, umnixed, dephlegmated, defeated evil." 

If Wilberforce or Clarkson were living, and it were enquired of 
them "can you be sure that you have promoted the happiness of a 
single human being!" 1 imagine that, if they considered conscien- 
tiously, they would find it difficult lo answer in the affirmative. - If it 
were asked "can you be sure tliatyou have not been the cause of suf- 
fering, misery and death to thousands," — when we lecollect that they 
probably stimulated the exeitions of the amis dcs jioirs in France and 
that through the efforts of these, the horrors of >t. Domingo were 
perpetrated. I think tliey must hesitate long to return a decided neg- 
ative. It might seem cruel, if we could, to convince a man who has 
devoted his life to what he esteemed a good and generous purpose, 
that he has been doing only evil — that he has been worshipping a hor- 
rid fiend, in the place of the true God. But fanaticism is in no dan- 
ger of being convinced, it is one of the mysteries of our nature, and 
of the divine government, how utterly disproportioned to each other, 
are the powers of doinsf evil and of doing good. The poorest and 
most abject instrument, that is utterly imbecile for any purpose of 
good, seems sometimes endowed v/ith almost the powers of omnipo- 
tence for mischief A mole may inundate a province — a spark from 
aforge may conflagrate a city — a whisper may seperate friends, a ru- 
mor may convulse an empire — but when we would do benefit to our 



61 

race or country, the purest and most chastened motives, the most pa- 
tient thought and labor, with the humblest self distrust, are hardly 
sufficient to assure us that the results m ly not disappoint our expecta- 
tations, and that we may not do evil instead of good. But are we 
therefore to refrain from eftbrts to benefit our race and country f By 
no means: but these motWes, this labour and self distrust are the on- 
ly conditions upon which we are permitted to hope for success. Very 
different indeed is the course of those, whose precipitate and ignorant 
zeal would overturn the fundamental institutions of society, uproot its 
peace and endanger its security, in pursuit of a distant and shadowy 
good, of which they themselves have formed no definite conception— 
whose atrocious philosophy would sacrifice a generation — and more 
than one generation — for any hypothesis. 



54 



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